We explain what collage is and how this artistic technique originated. Also, the types of collage that exist and examples of them.
What is collage?
It is called collage (from the Frenchcoller, which translates "paste") to a technique Artistic consisting of the construction of plastic works through the agglomeration or conjunction of pieces or cuts of different origin, giving them a unified tone. In other words, it is about putting together a work with bits obtained from other sources.
The collage is typical of the painting, but it is also possible to use its principles in music, Photography, movie theater, literature or video clip. In the case of plastic arts, is usually used as raw material for a collage to photographs, illustrations, newspapers, magazines, wood, leather, everyday objects, etc.
It is assumed that the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso would have invented collage in 1912 with his workStill life with fishnet chair. But he had already had similar experiences since 1898, and was inspired by Marcel Duchamp's experiences with the "Found Object" (objet trouvé), art made with everyday objects in disuse.
Collage was used by numerous artistic trends of the twentieth century, especially by the historical avant-gardes of the beginning of the century: the Futurism, the Cubism, the Dadaism, the Surrealism, the Constructivism, etc.
Among some of the artists best known for their foray into collage we have: Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Kazimir Malevich, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Robert Pollard, Man Ray, Larry Rivers, Antonio Berni and many more.
Collage types
There is no proper classification of collage, as it is a diverse technique. But we can try one according to the characteristics of the finished work:
- Three-dimensional collage. Those works in which the embedded objects not only fulfill a two-dimensional role (length and width), that is, they are not only part of the painting, but also offer a three-dimensional experience, with depth, texture and perspective.
- Photo collage. Those who use only photographs to compose a work that combines fragments of one with pieces of another, in the manner of twentieth-century fotonovelas. The photos overlap each other, blend into each other, and do not respect their natural edges.
- Grid collage. These types of collages are more respectful of a geometric order and use matrices to order their elements, thus giving a global or overall feeling that tends towards stability, rather than chaos.
- Mosaic collage. An enormous set of images or tiny objects are arranged in such a way that, when zoomed out, a larger image is reproduced that encompasses them and that is, in turn, a recognizable figure: a portrait, a scenery, etc.
Collage examples
Antonio Berni has a series of scrap sculptures called Monsters.
Some examples that allow us to illustrate the art of collage are:
- Vik Muniz's Trash Mosaics. This Brazilian artist worked with persons who live in a garbage dump near Rio de Janeiro and used them to collect garbage and waste material, disposing it in the I usually from a huge shed to form a mosaic reproduction of a previously taken portrait of their faces, imitating a famous painting. Once everything was arranged on the ground, the artist climbed onto a scaffold to take the photograph from above.
- The monsters of Antonio Berni. This Argentine artist of diverse work has a series of sculptures made from waste material that he christened monsters, and whose bodies are made of recognizable garbage: cans, tires, brushes, nets, etc. But when viewed from afar, these sculptures are shaped like reptiles, dragons, etc.
- The paintings of Georges Braque. This French painter and sculptor is considered by many to be the "other" father of collage. For this he used texts Y colors, paper sculptures and a whole series of works developed from the coexistence of different elements.