Assemblage Art
History of Contemporary 3-D Visual Arts Forms, Assemblages D'Empreintes Invented by Jean Dubuffet.
Irish Visual Arts

Assemblage Art

Popularized in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s by artists like Robert Rauschenberg (b.1925), Assemblage art is a form of three-dimensional visual expression whose compositions are formed from everyday objects which are 'found' by the artist (objets trouvés).

The term 'assemblage' dates from the early 1950s, when the French faux naif artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-85) referred to his collages of butterfly wings, as 'assemblages d'empreintes'. Sometimes referred to as bricolage, collage and construction, Assemblage was a stepping stone towards other contemporary art forms such as Pop-Art and Installation.

Satellite (1955)
(Robert Rauschenberg)

HISTORY OF VISUAL ARTS
For a list of important dates about
movements, styles, famous artists,
see: History of Visual Art Timeline.

Origins

Despite its post-modernist image, 1950s Assemblage compositions can be traced back to the early twentieth century Synthetic Cubist works of Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). In 1912, Braque began mixing sand and sawdust with his paint in order to create interesting textures. Picasso went further and introduced collage in his painting Still Life with Chair-Caning (1911-12). Braque responded by inventing Papier Colle which he used in Fruit Dish and Glass (1912). These artworks were the first to obscure the traditional distinction between fine art painting and sculpture, by violating the picture plane with the incorporation of three-dimensional 'objets trouvés'. Other early examples include the sculptural assemblages of the Italian Futurist artists Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and Fillipo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944). The Dada and Surrealist movements also experimented with the inclusion of natural and industrial objects in their paintings. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), the so-called father of Conceptual Art was another innovator in this area. One should note that purists insist on a distinction between collage (supposedly 2-D) and Assemblage art (3-D). However, a difference in principal is not detectable, being merely a matter of degree.

Modern Assemblage

The contribution of post-modernist artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) lies in their assembly or accumulation of modern, every objects (or images thereof) such as: boxes, old shoes, baked bean cans, machine parts and so on. According to William Seitz, curator at the New York Museum of Modern Art, assemblages were defined by preformed, natural or manufactured materials, which are not intended as art materials. The movement was exemplified by the work of Robert Rauschenberg, whose 'Combines' made use of the assemblage of large physical objects. Another example is Untitled (Felt Tangle) (1967) by Robert Morris (b.1931) comprising remnants of felt from an old felt factory. One should also note the influence of the American artist Allan Kaprow (b.1927), whose book 'Assemblage, Environments and Happenings' (1966) became a bible for a wide range of art performances and their commentators.

One could say that the value of Assemblage hovers between its conceptual meaning and its visual attributes. Leaving aside the issue of fine art, one might ask: what is the artist trying to achieve, and how visually effective is his method of achieving it.

THE MOST VALUABLE VISUAL ART
For information about the world's
most highly priced works of art
and record auction prices, see:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings
Top 20 Most Expensive Paintings

For facts about the most valuable
art from painters in Ireland, see:
Most Expensive Irish Paintings.

Exhibition

In 1961, the New York Museum of Modern Art staged an exhibition entitled 'The Art of Assemblage'. In addition to showing works by early twentieth century famous artists such as Picasso, Braque, Dubuffet, and Kurt Schwitters (creator of the Merzbilder collages and the 'Merzbau', a whole building filled with objets trouvés, destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943), the exhibition also showcased assemblages by American artists such as Man Ray (1890-1977), Joseph Cornell (1903-73) and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as lesser Californian assemblage artists such as Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner and Edward Kienholz.

Legacy

Assemblage art may be described as bridging the gap between collage and the Pop-Art sculpture (eg. Ale Cans, 1964) of Jasper Johns. Its use of non-art materials anticipated the use of 'popular' mass-produced objects and cultural imagery of Pop-Art, and was an important influence on Arte Povera and contemporary Installation art.

• For more information about contemporary art-forms, see: Irish Art Guide.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Assemblage Art.

Irish Art News Articles - Guide to Irish Art Exhibitions
© visual-arts-cork.com 2008 All rights reserved.