Collage
DEFINITION
A technique named for the French word 'coller' meaning 'to glue'. The process involves creating a visual two-dimensional image by gluing together bits of paper, fabric or other natural or manufactured materials to a ground, usually canvas or panel. The introduction of collage as a fine-art method began in 1912 in Paris when Georges Braque purchased a roll of paper in a store in Avignon. In his studio he combined pieces of that paper with charcoal to make the first collage recognized as being more than just a simple home-crafts project. His method was copied by his friend Pablo Picasso, who made the first high-art collage, "Still Life with Chair Caning". It was a chair-caned patterned oilcloth glued to canvas. Shortly after he and Braque made "papiers colles", which are collages made from cut papers, and is linked to the 19th-century pastime of "papiers colles", an art recreation whereby decorative items were made with pasted pieces of colored paper. After World War I, Dada artists made Collages from found objects such as street debris, and Surrealists did Collages from materials that had more symbolic, psychological meaning. Collage in three-dimensional form is called Assemblage and Construction Sculpture. Noted American collage artists are Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, Joseph Cornell, Romare Bearden, Conrad Marca Relli, Vito Acconci, Bruce Conner, Miriam Schapiro, Dorothea Rockburne and Judy Chicago. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms"; Robert Atkins, "Artspoke"; AskART database. <br><br>A technique of picture making in which the artist uses materials other than the traditional paint, such as cut paper, wood, sand, and so on.<br><br>A composition made of cut and pasted pieces of different materials, sometimes photographs or drawn images are used.<br><br> French word for cut and pasted scraps of materials, such as paper, cardboard, chair caning, playing cards, etc., to a painting or drawing surface; sometimes also combined with painting or drawing.