Collage is an art form that allows for perpetual combinations, endlessly mixing and matching different elements. From the French verb “coller," meaning to glue, the term has come to encompass a great deal of variety and experimentation. Starting with the works of paper collage artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques, contemporary collage has provided a liberatory escape for artists who felt constrained by other artistic mediums. In Henri Matisse's case, découpage arrived late in his career, once he fell ill. Scissors and the collages he produced with them operated as a sort of replacement for the more physical act of painting. His “Cut-Outs" remain one of the most striking examples of collage to date.
Following Matisse and the medium's first innovators, other famous collage artists have taken to this malleable form of creation. Among them is Vik Muniz, the champion of recycled art who creates coherent images from thousands of different, repurposed materials. Or Peter Beard, the famous collage artist and American photographer who combined his African adventures with his long-standing passion for journaling. In either case, the works present a unique form of storytelling and reconstructed narratives. Digital collage artists such as Johanna Tordjman have taken this process a step further, incorporating technology into the genre.
Discover these contemporary collage artists and others, like Marian Williams and Jacques Villeglé with Artsper's special selection…
