Slide 1
Collage assembles separate fragments into a new composition
Collage joins separate fragments on a support. Paper can be cut, torn or folded before becoming part of a new composition.
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The chosen edge affects how a fragment reads. A tear preserves an irregular boundary, while a cut can make a more deliberate contour; both remain evidence of the making process.
Slide 2
A fragment can retain part of its earlier identity
A collage fragment may retain printed words, a photograph or a familiar pattern. Its previous identity can interact with the new composition.
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Meaning can come from the relationship between fragments as well as from each piece alone. An advertisement beside a face creates a different encounter from either item viewed separately.
Slide 3
The join can be visible or disguised
Some collages emphasise the meeting of separate pieces, while others create a more continuous illusion. The join is an artistic choice.
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Drawing or painting can be added to the assembled surface. A finished collage need not consist exclusively of found material: new marks can connect or interrupt its fragments.
Slide 4
Arp associated some arrangements with chance
Jean Arp associated some collages with arrangements made through chance. Such claims change how viewers think about intention and composition.
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A claimed chance procedure still operates within choices of material, scale and presentation. Random placement does not remove every decision made by the artist.
Slide 5
Rephotographing a montage can conceal its physical seams
A photographic montage can be rephotographed to produce a single image. That final photograph may disguise the physical edges of its assembled source.
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The visible object and the method that produced it can therefore differ. A seamless photographic surface does not prove that its scene existed together before a camera.
Sources
- Object:Photo glossary
Museum of Modern Art
- Meet Me: module ten
Museum of Modern Art