Collage is the art of creating new worlds from fragments - paper, wood, or images combined into fresh meaning. From Picasso and Braque’s Cubist innovations to Pop Art and modern design, collage invites imagination and play. A creative technique for all skill levels, it transforms everyday materials into personal, expressive artworks.
COLÁJ , collages , sn Artistic process that consists of composing a painting by gluing together heterogeneous elements; p. ext. painting made by this process. – From fr. collage .
Collage has a long history, with the earliest surviving examples being 12 Japanese calligraphic scrolls. With the invention of photography in the mid-19th century, collaging from photographic fantasies became an extremely popular pastime in Victorian and Edwardian salons. In 1912, Picasso and Braque were the artists who introduced collage to the world of art.
Collage in painting
It manifested itself as part of modernism in painting above all and the prominent representatives of collage are the painters who belong to cubism: Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso . It is assumed that the first to use this collage technique in oil painting was Pablo Picasso. According to art critics, Georges Braque was inspired by the technique used by Picasso and applied it to his own works of art. Braque's drawings were made by gluing together other elements that created a strong impact in the artistic field. Surrealist artists took full advantage of collage techniques. Cubomnaia is a collage technique specific to this period. It consists of cutting an image into squares of different sizes, after which they were chaotically reorganized. This technique is a very interesting one, and its impact on art in general was impressive.
Cubomnaia Technique
Pop art also embraced the interesting techniques of collage. The Sidney Janis Gallery hosted an impressive pop art gallery in November 1962 that included the work of artists such as Tom Wesselmann, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol. This was the starting point for pop art, with many of the artworks housed in this exhibition cultivating various methods of collage. A common technique is that of applying elements that belong to another painting, an entire painting.
Collage and wood collage works
Wood collage
In addition to collage made with paper elements, collage made with wooden elements later emerged. Kurt Schwitters was the one who began to experiment with wood collage around 1920. However, it is assumed that the use of wood dates back to the beginning of modern collage on paper, when Georges Braque glued pieces of oak wood to his paintings. Collage with wooden elements made this technique characteristic not only of painting, but also of sculpture.
Here's how you can make a simple decorative collage. The good thing about this technique is that you don't need a lot of talent, you just need to know how to combine different types of paper or other materials. The materials you need are:
- a small canvas chassis (or any other size)
- glue (aracet) and brush
- papers with different patterns or textures
- different photo images of favorite objects or places
- acrylic, marker or pastel for effects
Image collage making steps
The essential thing when choosing collage paper is to have as much variety as possible, some with very busy patterns, and others without any patterns at all. When applying the paper, it must be placed according to the same principle, some very crowded next to each other, others very airy. To be successful, do not choose too many colors, in general, it is safer to go with shades of a maximum of two colors (one warm and one cold), and the accents with acrylic or marker should be the pure colors of the two chosen. Good luck!!
Collage represents an unprecedented step forward in bringing art and life closer to a simultaneous experience. It must be understood not only as a technique of putting together fragments, but also as a way of dissecting or questioning our own personality, of analyzing our life, its unfolding in today's world.
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