History of Collage

Brief History of Collage

1912-2012 -100 years as a fine art

Information gathered from Creative Collage Techniques, Nita Leland and Virginia Lee and The Art and Craft of Collage, Simon Larbalestier

It is said that paper was invented over 2040 years ago, and collage was over 1020 years ago, but the earliest examples of paper collage are the works of the twelfth-century Japanese calligraphers. But quite possibly earlier than those human beings were cutting, tearing and gluing.

The Japanese would use their poems and calligraphy as a base, and then by using their personal drawing and other cut words they would glue them to surface. 

In the medieval times, thirteenth century, religious imagery was darned with gemstones, elegant fibers, relics and precious metals. Shrines were erected to honor religious icons.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Near East, Craftsmen cut and pasted intricate designs and used marbled papers as part of the art of bookbinding. Book and collage artist today still practice the art of hand papermaking, marbling, collage and assemblage.

Renaissance artisans of the fifteen and sixteenth Centuries in western European countries pasted paper and fabric to decorate the backgrounds of coats of arms in genealogical records.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Victorian Woman found that a book marker was needed to keep a place marked in their prayer books during church services, so while sitting around having tea the women gather things, color papers, material and coffee beans etc and made book marks. It turned out to be quite a grand time so much so the woman found that they were making cards and at a special time of year, Valentine’ Day for St. Valentine.

              Also during the seventeenth century the cut-paper silhouettes appeared in the Netherlands.

Artisans and craftsman in prehistoric and primitive societies in many parts of the world used seeds, turtle shells, straw, feathers and butterfly wings as collage material. So repurposing found materials has a history too. Shamans and holy men in some societies secured these and other materials to their regalia and masks which are used in sacred rituals still today.

In the nineteenth century collage developed into more of hobby then an art form. People pasted photographs, glued postage stamps in albums and covered screens and lampshades with magazine illustrations and art reproductions. In antique shops today you can find nineteenth-century scrapbooks and photo albums, silhouettes and lampshades made of assorted materials: paper fabric, human or animal hair, and a variety of memorabilia.

              Artists during this time were Hans Christian Anderson, created illustrations for books this way.

Carl Spitzweg made collages for collection of recipes with cutouts from woodcuts which he colored by hand and pasted on to marble papers.

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, graphic artists arranged type and cut-outs from theater poster, and other illustrations.

The introduction of photography let to photomontage, and the combination of photos and poster themselves became collage material.

Collage as a Modern Art

The twentieth century early 1900’s Katherine Hoffman stated that “Collage may be seen as a quintessential twentieth-century art form with multiple layers and signposts point to the possibility or suggestion of countless new realities.”

Art historians generally attribute the first use of collage in fine art to Pablo Picasso in 1912, when he glued a piece of patterned oil cloth to a cubist still life. Next, George Braque incorporated wallpaper into his artwork. The two artists experimented with papiers Colles as an extension of cubist principles. The art of pasting papers to a support was called papiers Coller, the French term for pasted papers. A Spanish artist Juan Gris promptly joined in around this time also.

Instead of creating an illusion of reality, they invented a new kind of reality, using textured and printed papers and simulated wood patterns on their drawings and paintings. Imagine the storm of controversy that followed these experiments. The use of foreign materials in paintings inflamed critics, adding more fuel to the creative fires of experimental artists. 

The Avant-Garde adopted this new approach and quickly branched out. Futurists incorporated typography for political commentary and added found objects to connect art with the real world. Around the start of World War I, several Italian futurists continued to work in and expand on the collage techniques introduced in France.

The German and Russian expressionists then contributed technical developments. Following a short lull in collage activity, the 1920’s art scene witnessed the arrival of German Dada artist Kurt Schwitter’s exciting array of personal expression executed in collage and assemblage. As a result, collage was no longer merely experimental art. Almost every major avant-garde artist of the 1920’s and 1930’s tried their hand at collage to a greater or lesser degree, primarily to further their graphic explorations.

Dadaists-(French, meaning hobby horse, which was picked by opening a dictionary at random and stabbing a knife into the page and the word Dada was given to this group of artist) Dadaism was to give collage a more powerful public voice in the form of posters, publications and leaflets. The artist gathered in coffee shops, café, and read poetry, listened to music. Dada had a profound effect on collage, expressing opposition to the accepted attitude of society. It was called the anti-art nonsense, bringing together outrageous combination of materials for shock value. During this time new science of minds, called psychology, led surrealists to see collage as revelations of unconscious thoughts brought to the surface through the random selection and placement of material.

Collage is used to explore ideas, advocate concepts and develop possible directions in which to work. But just as often it is the consummate means of personal visual expression and distinct vocabulary.