 Kurt Schwitters (Germany, 1887–1948), MZ 26, 44 res, 1926, collage on paper, 6 3/8 x 4 5/8 inches, Portland Museum of Art. | Collage: Piecing It Together December 19, 2009 - February 28, 2010 A collage (from the French, coller, to glue) is a work of art made from the assemblage of different pieces, thus creating a whole new art form. It became a distinctive part of the modern movement in the early 20th century, used by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the height of synthetic cubism. This exhibition, featuring 34 works from the Museum’s collection and selected loans from contemporary Maine artists, demonstrates how collages by the renowned German modernist Kurt Schwitters and Surrealists Jean Arp and Joan Miró influenced the work of Abstract Expressionists including Anne Ryan, James Brooks, and John Hultberg. The exhibition also illustrates how Maine artists today continue to draw on the inventive nature of collage for works in a variety of media. Henry Wolyniec’s abstract collotypes combine printmaking and traditional cut-paper compositions; Tom Hall’s landscape paintings include found-paper elements; and Aaron Stephan’s portraits are composed of deconstructed anatomy book illustrations. |