Collages - L'espace de l'art concret

« COLLAGES »
Exhibition July 1 – November 04, 2012
Curator : Fabienne Fulchéri, assisted by d’Alexandra Deslys
Artists : Arthur Aeschbacher, Jean Arp, Denise A. Aubertin, Erwin Blumenfeld, Barbara Breitenfellner, Marcelle Cahn,
Etienne Chambaud, Eduardo Chillida, Peter Downsbrough,Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez, Erró, Lionel Estève, Piotr
Galadzhev, Mathew Hale, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Adolf Hoffmeister, Gottfried Honegger, Marine
Hugonnier, Imi Knoebel, Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux, P. Nicolas Ledoux, Tatiana Loguine, Gilles Mahé, Robert
Motherwell, Aurelie Nemours, Anna Ostoya, Julien Pacaud, Jacques Prévert, Karine Rougier, Martha Rosler, Michel
Seuphor, John Stezaker, Léon Tutundjian, Nico Vascellari, Karl Waldmann, Jacob Whibley.
The Espace de l’Art Concret presents the exhibition « Collages » in the temporary exhibition gallery located in the
Castle of Mouans. The exhibition will offer a panoramic view of these twentieth century techniques.
When Georges Braque first used wood-grain wallpaper in one of his 1912 compositions, he opened a profound
breach in the representational system generally accepted up to that time. The use of raw elements, bits of reality
taken directly from daily life and integrated as such onto the surface of a work, would go largely beyond the scope
of Cubism, and would have a profound impact on other movements such as Futurism, Constructivism, and Dadaism.
Two main directions emerged in the practice of collage; one based on spatial and formal experimentation, and the
other on referential and narrative associations.
The exhibition will explore both of these directions, beginning with a selection of historic works. Jean Arp and Marcelle
Cahn, two artists present in our own collection, are among the emblematic figures of the technique. In their
hands collage evolved towards a practice of great formal and poetic liberty. Building on the basic premises of
collage, other experiments led to exciting extensions such as photomontage and assemblage. Numerous
artists from the modern period to the present day continue this research, from the famous photomontages of
Raoul Hausmann, Jindrich Styrsky and Hannah Höch to more recent collages and assemblages by Motherwell,
Rauschenberg and Erró.
With the development of new technologies, collage has currently been given a new twist and has been applied in
many new ways. The exhibition will show the contemporary face of collage by offering a novel reading of the famous
“Cut and Paste”.
The appearance of cut and glued paper in art did not only affect two-dimensional works. It also had a significant
impact on a certain movement in twentieth century sculpture, notably in the domain of constructivist research. Artists
like Henri Laurens were also strongly influenced by the appearance of these new materials in art and their formal
translation into the field of sculpture.