2023-02-01
Assemblage is a three-dimensional artistic composition created by combining different objects. Simply put, assemblage is a variation of collage in 3D. A traditional collage is made of different materials and is sometimes combined with drawings or paintings. Various elements, such as newspaper clippings, photographs or textiles are attached to paper or canvas, resulting in a work that combines different styles and genres. Assemblage is an art form analogous to collage which additionally has a spatial dimension.
The word assemblage comes from the French language (assemblage). It can be translated as "collection," so the name of the technique itself implies its essence – an assemblage is a collection of different, disparate objects. The term is believed to have been coined by French artist Jean Debuffet, who in the early 1950s created collages and added butterfly wings to them. However, assemblage-like works were created even earlier, we can find them in the works of cubists and Dadaists.
An assemblage can consist of all kinds of objects, from useless, destroyed ones to those valuable and carefully selected by an artist for use in a particular work. What is important, the individual things that make up the assemblage are not created but only used by the artist. They can be specially prepared for this purpose, e.g., changed, deformed, painted, or combined with other objects. They can be glued, tied, scattered, placed next to each other, suspended in the air – the only limit is the artist's imagination.
The importance of this form of art stems from the belief in the artistic value that can be given to everyday objects. To elevate something "ordinary" to the rank of art is to contradict traditional ideals that treat art as sacrum, to which this what is usual should not have access. Creators of assemblages designed unique works by using different materials in a specific space. In Poland, the most famous artists using this technique are Tadeusz Kantor and Wladyslaw Hasior.
