Assemblage Art
Popularized in the United States during the 50's and 60's, this art form is a three dimensional visual art in which the compositions are formed from everyday items, or "found" objects. The term "assemblage" dates back to the early 1950's when the French faux artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-85) referred to his own collages as "assemblages d'empreintes". Sometimes even called bricolage, collage and construction, assemblage was a stepping stone towards and inspiration for contemporary arts such as "pop-art" and Installation art.
Although it may hold a post-modernist image, the assemblages of the 1950's can be traced back as far as the early 20th century Synthetic Cubist works of Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). In around 1912, Braque started mixing sand and sawdust along with paint to make interesting textures. Picasso took a greater step further and introduced collage in his renowned painting "Still Life with Chair-Caning". Braque made a quick return with Papier Colle in "Fruit Dish and Glass. These artworks were responsible for the traditional extinction between fine art painting and sculpture by breaking the rules a bit and using three dimensional objects.
Still Life with Chair-Caning (1912)
By: Pablo Picasso
Fruit Dish and Glass (1912)
By: Georges Braque
Other great early examples include some sculptural assemblages of the Italian Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and Fillipo Marinetti (1876-1944). The Dada and Surrealism movements in art history also endured with the inclusion of industrial or natural objects in their paintings. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), aka the father of Conceptual Art, was another renowned innovator in the field. It should be noted that purists wanted some sort of distinction between collage, assuming 2D, and Assemblage art, containing 3D works. Albeit, a difference in such a principal is not detectable, it is merely a matter of the degree.
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
By: Umberto Boccioni
The legacy of assemblage art can be explicated as a bridge for the gap between collage and "pop art" sculpture of Jasper Johns in specific. It usage of non-artistic materials to anticipate a "popular" mass-produced objective and cultural imagery of "pop art" really have its influence on Arte Povera and the future contemporary Installation art. This art has proven its worth as both inspirational and out-of-the-ordinary.
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