Assemblage and Collage
Edgar Valverde
Time Period
Despite its post-modernist image, 1950s Assemblage and Collage compositions can be traced back to the early twentieth century Synthetic Cubist works of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Assemblage was a stepping stone towards other art forms such as Pop-Art and Installation art.
Assemblage
Assemblages are sculptures constructed from a variety of ready-made materials and objects not often intended for making art.
Assemblage was...
Popularized in the U.S. during the 1950s and 1960s by Robert Rauschenberg, Assemblage is a form of three-dimensional visual art whose compositions are formed from everyday items.
Canyon, 1959 - Robert Rauschenberg
Canyon shows its mixed media; pieces of wood, a pillow, a mirror, and a stuffed bald eagle. The eagle appears to emerge directly from the canvas, perched on top of a cardboard box and peering down on a pillow dangling below the assemblage.
Collage
Collage derives its name from the French verb coller, to glue. The work of art is made by gluing things to the surface.
Still Life with Chair Caning, 1911 -Pablo Picasso
Many consider this collage to be a key piece in the development of Cubism, as well as an important work in the history of collage.
Picasso indicated in later years that the purpose of the early collages was to introduce different textures into compositions and to blur the line between the artworks and reality.