Is Collage art peculiar itself, or is it made to be peculiar?

Collage is a kind of art, which produced using different forms, assembled in order
to create a new whole. I would like to use the word peculiar to describe the sense and
feeling which I always get every times I look at a piece of collage or photomontage art
work. This type of art, for me, always bring me a very exciting but yet unusual feeling
because of the fact that, there are different forms of art in one whole. This in fact,
delivery the feeling that there are some elements that I thought it would not related to this
art work, however when they are assembled, they immediately create the unrelated but
yet unified sense beautifully. Because of this, collage is also very abstract in my opinion
because of the fact that the artists play with composition and placing different pieces.
There is loads of type of materials to be used in Collage art, it could be anything really,
and there is no limit. There is no limit on size, no limit on technique, and there are no
rules. From this point, collage, in my opinion, could be seen as one of the most free,
spontaneous type of art. It is where the most unusual, interesting, sometimes even
grungy or scary piece of art could be made. Thus, there is no doubt that collage art
delivers such strong, impressive feeling and also very abstract. Collage art could catch
viewers eyes so easily without any difficulties because of its specialness. However, this
also brought up a question, which considered me when I came to think about collage.
Collage has a base technique, which whether the artists use any type of art forms, would
have to follow. From here, I would like to question, whether because of this base
technique that make collage into something unique, very interesting and very
spontaneous or should I say peculiar, or is it depends on the artist style? Each artist has

their own personal style and their own imagination, is this reason why collage is
peculiar?

Collage as mentioned previously; use the technique of assembling different forms

of art to create a new whole. According to Eddie Wolfram in The history of collage, the
dawn of collage art begun over a thousand years ago in Japan. At the very first stage,
collage was simply using cut out drawings which then be assembled in a piece of paper
with written poem. In term of this fact, it is clearly that at this stage, collage serves as a
way to illustrate for a piece of writing, however still stay in its most original and simple
way. Moving to later period of time, collage art had strongly developed and spread out far
more than just being used in Asia. We have cubist collage used by Picasso, the Futurism
and machine era throughout Paris, Milan and Rome. There come the Russian Experiment,
followed by the use for the anti-aesthetic of Dada, the move of collage after the war,
during the period of time of Industrialization and finally, the modern time.

It is believed that Picasso and George Braque were the first two artists who
practice collage in their artworks back to the beginning of twentieth century. They are
both pioneers in cubist art and were developing Analytical Cubism at the moment. At this
point, it is important to understand that Analytical Cubism represents Picassos
philosophy about any elements on a human face could be arranged by the artists desire.
As this art becoming more and more abstract, around 1912, Picasso and Braque decided
to develop a new form of art called Synthetic Cubism where the artist uses actual
elements, for example: papers cutout, labels, wallpapers, etc. to represent the artwork.

Thus by stating this point, it could be understood, in my own opinion, that at the very first
stage where collage were first used in modern art, it was created to serve a particular type
of art. Collage, at the moment, is actually a technique to represent Synthetic Cubism. And
more importantly, collage was born to create the abstract sense, which the artists want to
deliver in their artworks. Drawing back to the period of time before collage were first
used in modern art, Analytical Cubism is the previous form of Synthetic Cubism. And it
was becoming more and more abstract. Thus, Synthetic Cubism was developed to serve
the increase of the sense of abstract in Analytical Cubism. I believe, from here, that the
abstract sense is a part of Collage.
Moving to the next period of time where collage flourished strongly is where
Dada Movement begins. It was developed as a reaction toward the Word War I from
many thoughts. The avant-garde movements influenced Dada heavily, for example:
Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and Expressionism. After the war, it developed into
Surrealism where collage becomes a relevant technique for this anti-art movement. At
this stage, the ingredient which artists use for this form of art is not just cut out papers,
labels or wallpapers anymore. It became more and more diverse. For example, the small
Merzbilder collages of Kurt Schwitters were established using street rubbish in order to
represent how the world gone mad. A number of collage images, and incorporated
frottage (rubbed patterns) were created by Max Ernst who is a Surrealist artist in his
fantasy art. From here, it is clear that collage has a strong connection with Surrealism and
other avant-garde movement. Surrealist artists, abstract expressionist artists to represent
their artwork, also use it. Thus, any artworks, produced using collage technique, should
also carry that peculiar sense which I use to describe that feeling of unusual, abnormal

and very abstract because collage is a technique during the period of time where Dada
movement developed into Surrealism.
Since the flourish of Dada movement, there are more and more artists using
collage. Because of this reason, collage has been developed further in term of forms and
being mixed with different media. Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns are neo-avantgarde artists during the 1950s who experimented collage into three dimensions form and
bring up a more contemporary sense toward his works. During the later of twentieth
century, collage has been used in a broader context, for example musical, architectural
arrangements, photomontage, etc. Digital collage came along with the appearance of
computers and technology. This has increase the combination of different visual elements
thus create a new visual whole. In my opinion, because of the fact that collage has been
used in different context, thus developed various forms. Artists do not just use papers to
create their artwork anymore; they use different of material, which I believe would
increase the peculiar sense of collage as a result. Artist is the element, which develop
collage further, however, they use collage and experiment it because of its feature.

In order to answer for the question is collage art peculiar itself?, I would like to
consider about the different materials being used in Collage art. As I had mentioned
previously, collage is about using different forms to create a new whole. I think just the
idea of using different forms in order to create a unified body, to some extent, has brought
up the strange and odd feeling. Because it is an unified whole, however created from
things which might not even related to each other, would surely deliver that peculiar
feeling yet exciting. From this base technique of collage, the various ingredients and

forms of art is the key to increase the visual effect which collage carries. By getting
throughout a very long period of time, it is certain that there are a various forms and
techniques have been developed and used for collage art. It is not just about cutout
drawings and served to illustrate for a piece of poem, collage has developed far more
from its starting point. Beginning with the most original form of art, the beginning of
collage in modern art started with painting. Firstly using different drawing tools, collage
has been experimented further using drawing surface. Decoupage is another form of
collage, which uses pictures, layering up into object for decoration. Henri Matisses Blue
Nude II is one of the most famous pieces of works using this technique. By overlapping
paper, the artwork carries a invisible sculpture sense which also carry the feel of volume.
The invention of cameras and photographs brings up a new material for collage during
the following period of time, which is photomontage. It is just simply collage made of
photographs. Richard Hamiltons famous Just What is It That Makes Todays Homes So
Different, So Appealing? (1956) is a Pop Art signature piece of work. According to
Lauren Wallach in the article A Cut Down History of Collage, it is the incorporation of
materials and images culled from mass culture and consumer goods. Three Dimensional
Collage is probably one of the most interesting fields of this technique. It challenges the
original form of collage, from a flat surface into objects. Joseph Cornell is an American
sculptor who created very interesting three-dimensional shadow boxes by juxtaposing
different objects. By doing this, Cornell intended to inspire the viewers to see each
element in a new light. There is also a type of collage called found art, which uses junks
to form an artwork. Its a way the artist uses to show viewer the hidden beauty of
everyday object which could be form into an interesting whole. In this way, it has

developed the contemporary art sense and arises the curiosity of viewers at the same
time. All of these techniques have proved how diverse collage become and thus, bring
along the increase of visual effect which this form of art carries and delivers to the
viewers. Collage is challenging the form of art; it is not just a flat form anymore. It could
be created from different form of objects and form into a whole new body of artwork.
And from this point, it could be seen that different methods and techniques of collage
bring different visual effect and also the sense of art to the viewers.

Following by investigating about the diversity of materials of collage, I would

like to examine the use of collage in different context. There are various context which
this type of art is being used, however, I would like to take a look in depth of collage
within these three contexts: Illustration for children, Political and Social Issue, and
finally, Filming.
Collage has been used significantly in Illustration in term of Childrens picture
book. However, before starting research in depth of collage, what I thought collage could
not be used is the art for children. I thought that the peculiar sense which collage
delivers is no suitable for children because of its grungy feeling and unusual, abnormal
look. However, collage could do far more than that. It could create a beautiful mix of all
sort of texture and colors into one piece of artwork or figure in order to bring the sense of
creativity, exciting feeling but yet unusual to the children. Take A very hungry
caterpillar by Eric Carle as an example. The book was first published in 1969 but still
have a very strong influence nowadays. Eric Carle was the pioneer of using collage for
children book. He used hand painted papers with different shades of color, cut out and

layer up in order to create figure for his artwork. By this way, his works always bright,
colorful, eye catching but unique and yet, peculiar at the same time. Collage actually
suites children book so much more than I thought. In fact, by re-thinking and research in
depth about collage, I realize that it is commonly used to teach children at kindergarten
and primary school. Collage is one of the most easy but also interesting ways for children
to show their idea. As a result, collage art should be the most suitable way to be used to
get in touch with children.
Collage is also used in social and political art. The Dada movement is where this
type of art being used mostly to represent an artists political or social view. Because this
art movement was developed during the World War I, it usually represents strongly
artists thoughts and reactions toward the war. Take Hannah Hoch as an example, she
produced the famous Cut with the Dada kitchen knife through the Last Weimar BeerBelly Cultural Epoch in Germany which reflects strongly her views on political and
social issues during the transitional time of Germany society. Hannah Hoch is best known
as an originator of photomontage. She use photographs cut from newspapers or
magazines and combined them together into an illusion of an unreal subject. Those
combining images then represent a new statement about life and art of the Dada
movement. Hoch focused on producing posters advertising for womens liberation, same
sex relationship, social and political revolution. Her works are very abstract and contain
deep meaning within different layers of cut out pictures. Peter Kennard is also a very well
known contemporary artist who uses photomontage as a tool for his art works. Declare
himself as unofficial war artist, Kennard has been involved into images making since
the Vietnam War. With a 50 years career, he is one of the biggest and most important

British political artist and a leading practitioner in photomontage. By cutting photographs

and re-arranging them, Kennard has created the persuasive and provocative works, which
has become symbolic of political art. He describe his work as an attempt to rip apart the
smooth, bleached and apparently seamless surface of the medias presentation of the
world and to expose the conflict and grubby reality underneath. By looking at these two
artists who are both very successful in term of using collage in their political art, I realize
how well this technique works within this context. Hannah Hoch uses collage to create
her very abstract art and the key thing, which I found out, is that she uses collage to
deliver various layers of meaning in her artworks. I could see here that she chose this
technique because of its feature which suite her art and thoughts best. Collage could
represent the sense of abstract in her works and because of the number of layers of cut
out photos, it could represent the layer of meaning which she wants to deliver into her
artwork to some extent. Peter Kennard, claims that he quit drawings and chose
photomontage because it suite his activism better. The ways he describe his works, which
I stated previously, also describe how well photomontage could be use in his political art.
He said he wants to show the conflict and grubby reality underneath the seamless surface,
which the media presents the world. Isnt it describe how scratching images and cut out
photos could reveal the underneath layer which form an abstract, grungy and peculiar
whole? What I want to claim here is that the artists chose this technique because of its
feature. Every artist has their own style and their own decision on how to use a technique,
but there are feature existing in this technique, which is the reason why the artists chose
to work with.

Another context which collage is being used is film, animation and motion
graphic. Collage film originally could be described as a mix of fictional scenes with
footages coming from dissimilar sources. Collaging images or materials on to filmstrips
physically could also refer to collage film. Back to the beginning of this type of collage
film, Arthur Lipsett is an avant-garde artist who is a pioneer in this field. His short film
Very Nice, Very Nice that he produced during 1950s had challenged the traditional areas
and outcome of collage technique. Sergei Eisenstein described Lipsetts film as vertical
montage which indicates a juxtaposition of moment to moment of a film with
incorporate of soundtrack and movement. Collage is not just a flat image anymore, it had
been developed far more than where it started. There are layers and layers of short
moment being glued into a film, which is still the base of collage but it had challenged
this technique in term of ingredient. Arthur Lipsett chose some very striking, sometime
even scary moment to put together in his film. It is his decision in term of choosing which
elements could be add into his artwork, however, the technique itself, which is using a
series of different moment from dissimilar sources has created the peculiar sense in his
film.

By investigate and examine in depth of collage through its history, materials and
context, I would like to draw a conclusion about my opinion on the question Is Collage
art peculiar itself, or is it made to be peculiar? At the beginning when I first gaining
knowledge about collage, I had the thought that this technique is made to be peculiar. I
thought that it fully depends on which materials the artist uses and also, it depends on the
decision the artist makes. However, by looking thoroughly on collage, I learnt that

collage, for modern art, was created to be more unusual, more abstract and more
interesting. The peculiar sense of feeling, which I use to describe how collage art could
bring to viewer, is a feature of this technique I believe. I could clearly see that artist chose
collage to work with because of this feature, which is considered to be suitable with their
idea. By choosing collage as a technique to producing artwork, artist then experiment
with further materials and context to develop collage further. Thus, I believe that collage
is peculiar itself, not being made to be peculiar.

Word Count: 2953

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