Louis Aragon on Collage
elag
1930 - Writings and Theories
It is a curious fact that, even today, almost no one seems to take note
of a unique activity, the
consequences of which have not yet been felt, an activity to which
people have been devoting themselves
lately in a systematic manner that may be more characteristic of
magicians than painters. It raises
questions regarding personality, talent, artistic property, and it
challenges all sorts of ideas that make
themselves at home in the minds of idiots. I am speaking of what for
reasons of simplicity, we call collage,
even though the use of paste is but one characteristic of this
technique, and not even an essential one . . .
When and where did collage first appear? I believe, in spite of what the
early Dadaists might say, that credit
must be given to Max Ernst, at least with regard to the forms of collage
that are the most removed from the
Cubists' papier collé [pasted paper], that is, photographic collage and
collage of illustrations. Initially, collage
tended to enjoy a generalized practice, and German Dadaist publications,
in particular, contained works
signed by at least ten authors. But the procedure owed its success more
to surprise than to a need to
express one's self at any price. Before long, the use of collage was
limited to a few individuals, and the
entire atmosphere surrounding collage at that time was undoubtedly tied
in with the thinking of Max Ernst,
and Max Ernst alone. Meanwhile, German Dadaists were divided by serious
problems. It is known that they
were disunited by social problems during the Revolution of 1917, and
that their work came to an end with
the failure of the Revolution and growing inflation. At that time, many
sought to solve the problem of the
uselessness of art by adapting artistic means to propagandist ends. This
was how college gave birth to
photomontages, as they were called in Russia and central Europe, and the
Constructivists, in particular,
made use of them. It would not be right to overlook a phenomenon that,
although disdained by purist
painters, represents a major movement in contemporary painting and which
is primarily a symptom of the
quest for meaning, a current characteristic of evolving human thought .
. .
All the painters that can be called Surrealist, not an insignificant
group, have dealt with collage at one time or
another. If many of these works are closer to papier collé than they are
to the collages of Max Ernst,
involving nothing more than a modification of the canvas, they are
nevertheless significant, and they arise
at decisive moments in the evolution of pictorial art . . . .
This procedure is an innovation, and it is pure foolishness to greet it
in a blasé manner. For what use are
colors now? A pair of scissors and some paper can take the place of a
palette, and they do not put one
back in school, as a palette does . . .
Thought is not a sport. It cannot be the pretext for small successes
that draw applause. It is not detached.
It is not the activity of isolated individuals. The discoveries of all
of us bring about the evolution of each of
us. If, at a given moment, this or that thing happens, it is not without
consequences. And, if painting is no
longer what it once was, painters must become aware of this. Those who
do not should not be surprised if
they are seen as artisans who, at great expense, make products that are
rendered useless by the mere
reflections of a few contemporaries.
Louis Aragon, La Peinture au défi
[An Exerpt From: Ferrier, Jean-Louis, Director and Yann le Pichon,
Walter D. Glanze [English Translation]. Art of Our
Century, The Chronicle of Western Art, 1900 to the Present. New York:
Prentice-Hall Editions. 1988. p. 299]
Kwigd144
Surrealist) goes back to the mid to late 1700's, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON made
very beautiful collages and definitley can be categorized as Surrealist once
you look at them. Louis gets too wrapped up in the Analytical like most
Surrealist Thinkers. However Andre Breton along with Yves Tanguy and a few
others made some real beautiful collages.