Assemblage

ASSEMBLAGE: Three-dimensional counterpart of collage.

Assemblage is composed of non-art materials, often found objects, that are seemingly unrelated but create a unity.


It originated with Pablo Picasso and George Braque and Cubism. In 1913, they made the first Assemblage, which was a sheet metal guitar.

Curators at the Museum of Modern Art, created the name "assemblage" in 1961 for an exhibition of objects they titled "The Art of Assemblage".




FOUND OBJECT: Applies to artwork created with objects that are found and then incorporated in artwork.

The theory, from Surrealism, is that any object can become a work of art.

Found Objects pre-exist unto themselves rather than being made as art mediums such as oil, bronze, etc.

The use of Found Objects in art expression began in France in the early 20th century with Dadaists and Surrealists including Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp.

The use of Found Objects are usually regarded by the artist as aesthetically significant because they express personal meaning, which is the goal of the artwork.



Objects, fragments of objects and other materials used to create assemblages are items originally intended to be used for other purposes than art.

Common found materials include:

-Processed wood scraps
-Natural wood scraps
-Painted and rusted metal objects
-Fabric
-Furniture elements
-Architectural elements
-Pre-made boxes
-Worn picture frames
-Photographs
-Printed materials
-Toys
-Mechanical parts
-Old tools
-Musical instruments
-Personal objects
-Trinkets
-Ephemera
-Memorabilia

Everyday objects:

-Straws
-Sticks
-Q-tips
-Paper cups
-Styrofoam
-Pencils
-Paperclips
-Clothes pins
-Candy

That is just a short list to get you started. Once you start looking for items to use, you will see them everywhere.

Connection methods:

Typical methods of materials attachment include:

1.) Glues and adhesives- wood glue, white glue, hot glue, rubber cement, epoxy, construction
adhesive, rice starch, wheat paste, caulks including acrylic and
silicone based, soft wax

2.) Nails- found rusted or worn nails, finish nails, decorative tacks, construction nails

3.) Screws- found rusted or worn screws, machine screws with nuts, wood screws

4.) Soldering and welding (welding will not be accessible here)

5.) Tying- with found and worn wire, rope, string, ribbon, jute, etc.

6.) Doweling and pegging

Examples of Assemblage:









NARRATIVE: Art, which tells a story.

Narrative Art is usually self-explanatory, being from either recognizable daily-life scenes or from familiar folk stories.

Movements of the second half of the 20th Century such as Pop Art, Figurative, Calligraphic and Performance Art have reintroduced Narrative Art.

Examples of Narrative Sculpture:




Examples of Narrative Assemblage:

More Common 3-D Terms

ARTICULATED: Attached with a flexible or movable joint, as in the digits of a finger.







AXIS/AXES: A line, real or imagined, around which the material that composes an object appears to be organized.







CONCAVE: A negative area in a plane or surface, a scooped out or indented form or area.






CONVEX: A protrusion or outwardly pushing form like a nipple or breast.








CRAFTSMANSHIP: Aptitude, skill, or quality workmanship in use of tools and materials

MALLEABILITY: The capability of being molded, taking shape or being made to receive desired form.

MINIMAL: In art, characterized by the use of simple or primary forms, structures, etc., often geometric and massive.








NARRATIVE: Art, which tells a story, usually self-explanatory, being from either recognizable daily-life scenes or from familiar folk stories.








PERFORATED: Pierced with a hole or holes (like Swiss cheese).









PLATONIC SOLIDS: Each of the five regular polyhedron (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron).








POLYHEDRON: A solid figure or object with many (usually more than six) plane faces.

SERIAL: Things in succession or installment, which vary from one another but belong together through form or content.







STYLIZATION: The simplification of a form to emphasize its design qualities. Also, referring to remembered “representations” of an object as opposed to what is actually present.

TACTILE: perceptible to touch; that which is tangible.

TRANSLUCENT: allowing light to pass through, but not defined objects.

TRANSPARENT: a form or plane which can be seen through, such as glass.

VOID: a hollow, concavity, or unoccupied space within a solid object or mass.