A brief history of collage from 12th century Japan to Sydney today – and your own kitchen table
Collage can be traced back to the invention of paper. Australian artists are still exploring its possibilities today. Here’s how you can, too.
Collage has a rich history dating back to the 12th century in Japan, where artists pasted different papers, fabrics, and torn elements alongside their writing to amplify or accentuate calligraphy through graphic compositions. Paper was introduced to Europe during the late Middle Ages, and by 1702, the world's first daily newspaper was published, which could be thrown away or repurposed at the end of the day.
The word "collage" comes from the French "coller," meaning "to glue" or "to stick together." European artists popularized the art form in the early 20th century, responding to chaos from war, such as George Braque, Hannah Höch, and Pablo Picasso. They saw newspapers, propaganda posters, and flyers as art materials that could be rearranged to subvert fascism and critique totalitarian regimes.
Collage is a cheap, fast, and easy technique that moved between various waves of Modern Art during the 20th century, including Surrealism, Dada, Cubism, and Feminist Art. Artists like Man Ray and Elemérné Marsovszky used collage to bring fragmented cultural landscapes into view, while Joseph Cornell challenged distinctions between painting and sculpture through collage.
Collage became an integral part of the Dada art movement, allowing artists to reject the perfection of naturalism and realism, focusing on messages communicated by words and images already around them.
Today, Australian artists continue to confront the world by cutting and pasting what they find, just like their predecessors. Contemporary artist Deborah Kelly uses collage extensively in her colorful, activist art, exploring themes of gender norms, power structures, and self-expression through workshops. The Social Glue of Sydney is a collective that focuses on communal collage practice, sitting around a communal table to make collages without any leader or constraints.
This approach encourages participants to write their own histories from their own perspectives and find whimsy in their surroundings.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
