Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate that consists of three-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate. It is similar to

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

, a two-dimensional medium. It is part of the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

and it typically uses found objects, but is not limited to these materials. The term also may be applied to free-standing works that have been assembled.

History

The origin of the art form dates to the cubist constructions of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

c. 1912–1914. The origin of the word (in its artistic sense) may be traced back to the early 1950s, when

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...

created a series of

s of butterfly wings, which he entitled ''assemblages d'empreintes''. However,

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

and others had been working with

found objects A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have ...

for many years prior to Dubuffet. Russian artist

Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin (; ; – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect, and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, ...

created his "counter-reliefs" in 1914. Alongside Tatlin, the earliest woman artist to try her hand at assemblage was

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven (née Else Hildegard Plötz; 12 July 1874 – 14 December 1927) was a German avant-garde visual artist and poet, who was active in Greenwich Village, New York, from 1913 to 1923, where her radical self-displa ...

, the Dada Baroness. In Paris during the 1920s

Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...

, Jose De Creeft,

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, and others began making fully 3-dimensional works from metal scraps, found metal objects, and wire. In the U.S., one of the earliest and most prolific assemblage artists was

Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...

, who began creating her sculptures from found pieces of wood in the late 1930s. In the 1950s and 1960s assemblage started to become more widely known and used. Artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns started using scrappy materials and objects to make anti-aesthetic art sculptures, a big part of the ideas that make assemblage what it is. The painter

Armando Reverón Armando Reverón (May 10, 1889 – September 17, 1954) was a Venezuelan painter and sculptor, precursor of Arte Povera and considered one of the most important of the 20th century in Latin America. While his mental health deteriorated throughout ...

is one of the first to use this technique when using disposable materials such as bamboo, wires, or kraft paper. In the thirties he made a skeleton with wings of mucilage, adopting this style years before other artists. Later, Reverón made instruments and set pieces such as a telephone, a sofa, a sewing machine, a piano, and even music books with their scores.

Jim Gary Jim Gary (March 17, 1939 – January 14, 2006) was an American sculptor popularly known for his large, colorful creations of dinosaurs made from discarded automobile parts. These sculptures were typically finished with automobile paint although s ...

searched in junk yards for parts that would fit into the design of his sculptures. In 1961, the exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" was featured at the New York

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. The

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

showcased the work of early 20th-century European artists such as

Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor of the École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of b ...

, and

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...

alongside Americans

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmma ...

, Robert Mallary, and

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

. It also included less well known American West Coast assemblage artists such as

George Herms George Herms (born 1935) is an American artist best known for creating assemblages out of discarded, often rusty, dirty or broken every-day objects, and juxtaposing those objects so as to infuse them with poetry, humor, and meaning. He is also k ...

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933, in McPherson, Kansas. His w ...

, and

Edward Kienholz Edward Ralph Kienholz (October 23, 1927 – June 10, 1994) was an American Installation art, installation artist and assemblage (art), assemblage sculptor whose work was highly critical of aspects of modern life. From 1972 onwards, he assembled ...

William C. Seitz William Seitz (June 14, 1914 – October 26, 1974) was an American art curator associated most closely with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City and known for the landmark exhibitions he curated and wrote catalogue essays for there on ...

, the curator of the exhibition, described assemblages as being made up of preformed natural or manufactured materials, objects, or fragments not intended as art materials.

Artists primarily or partially known for assemblage

Arman Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French and American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') t ...

(1928–2007), French artist, sculptor, and painter *

Tal Avitzur Tal Avitzur is a found-object sculptor known for creating assemblage robots, creatures, spaceships and other fantasy-themed sculptures. Early life and education Avitzur was born in 1962 in Haifa, Israel. He was raised in Allentown, PA. His f ...

(born 1962), an American artist known for his sci-fi and fantasy themed sculptures *

Hans Bellmer Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902 – 24 February 1975) was a German artist, best known for his drawings, etchings that illustrates the 1940 edition of '' Histoire de l’œil'', and the life-sized female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians ...

(1902–1975), a German artist known for his life-sized female dolls, produced in the 1930s *

Wallace Berman Wallace "Wally" Berman (February 18, 1926 – February 18, 1976) was an American experimental filmmaker, assemblage, and collage artist and a crucial figure in postwar California art. Personal life and education Wallace Berman was born in Stat ...

(1926–1976), an American artist known for his verifax collages *

Huma Bhabha Huma Bhabha (born 1962) is a Pakistani-American sculptor based in Poughkeepsie, New York. Known for her uniquely grotesque, figurative forms that often appear dissected or dismembered, Bhabha often uses found materials in her sculptures, includin ...

(born 1962), a Pakistani-American sculptor, known for her uniquely grotesque, figurative forms that often appear dismembered *

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

(1896–1966), a French artist, regarded as a principal founder of

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

* Steve Brudniak (born 1961) American artist, actor, and musician * John Chamberlain (1927–2011), a Chicago artist known for his sculptures of welded pieces of wrecked automobiles *

Greg Colson Greg Colson (born April 23, 1956) is an American artist known for his works and sculptures using scavenged materials. Biography Colson was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Bakersfield, California, in the nearby suburb of Oildale wi ...

(born 1956), an American artist known for his wall sculptures of stick maps, constructed paintings, solar systems, directionals, and intersections *

(1903–1972), Cornell, who lived in New York City, is known for his delicate boxes, usually glass-fronted, in which he arranged surprising collections of objects, images of renaissance paintings and old photographs; many of his boxes, such as the famous Medici Slot Machine boxes, are interactive and are meant to be handled *

(1939–2006), an American sculptor who lived in New Jersey is known for his fine, architectural, landscape, and abstracts in steel, stained glass, and hardware, as well as for his internationally traveling museum exhibition of monumental assemblages of close to life-sized dinosaurs and other animals using unaltered automobile parts that reached as much as sixty feet in length *

Rosalie Gascoigne Rosalie Norah King Gascoigne (née Walker; 25 January 191725 October 1999) was a New Zealand-born Australian sculptor and assemblage artist. She showed at the Venice Biennale in 1982, becoming the first female artist to represent Australia ther ...

(1917–1999), a New Zealand-born Australian sculptor *

Raoul Hausmann Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry, and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on ...

(1886–1971), an Austrian artist and writer and a key figure in Berlin Dada, his most famous work is the assemblage ''Der Geist Unserer Zeit'' – ''Mechanischer Kopf (Mechanical Head he Spirit of Our Age'', c. 1920 *

Romuald Hazoumé Romuald (; 951 – traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27 AD) was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of eremitical asceticism".John Howe, "The Awesome Hermit: The Symbolic Significance of ...

(born 1962), a contemporary artist from the Republic of Bénin, who exhibits widely in Europe and the U.K. *

(born 1935), an American artist known for his assemblages, works on papers, and theater pieces * Louis Hirshman (1905–1986), a Philadelphia artist known for his use of 3-D materials on flat substrates for caricatures of the famous, as well as for collages and assemblages of everyday life, archetypes, and surreal scenes * Robert H. Hudson (born 1938), an American artist * Irma Hünerfauth (1907—1998), a German artist, known for her combine paintings, collages, and assemblages, scrap sculptures, machines, and kinetic art from found objects *

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...

(born 1930), an American Pop artist, painter, printmaker, and sculptor *

(1927–1994), an American artist who collaborated with his wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, creating free-standing, large-scale "tableaux" or scenes of modern life such as the Beanery, complete with models of persons, made of discarded objects * Lubo Kristek (born 1943), a Czech artist known for his critical assemblages of bones, traps, material cast out by the sea, waste, and mobile telephones (destructed in a happening) *

Jean-Jacques Lebel Jean-Jacques Lebel (; born 30 June 1936, Paris) is a French visual artist, poet, art collector, writer, political activist, and creator of performance art happening art events. Besides his heterogeneous artworks and poetry, Lebel is also known f ...

(born 1936), in 1994 installed a large assemblage entitled ''Monument à

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

'' in the Forum of the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

* Janice Lowry (1946–2009), American artist known for biographical art in the form of assemblage, artist books, and journals, which combined found objects and materials with writings and sketches * Ondrej Mares (1949–2008), a Czech-Australian artist and sculptor best known for his 'Kachina' figures – a series of works *

Markus Meurer Markus Meurer (born 28 April 1959 in Monreal, Germany), is a German outsider artist. He transforms found objects into sculptures and collages. Life and work Markus Meurer learned already as a child how to make figures using wire and pliers. His ...

(born 1959), a German artist, known for his sculptures from found objects *

(1899–1988), an American artist, known for her abstract expressionist "boxes" grouped together to form a new creation; she used found objects or everyday discarded things in her "assemblages" or assemblies, one of which was three stories high *

Minoru Ohira Minoru Ohira (born 1950) is an artist who was born in Niigata, Japan. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kanazawa City Arts and Crafts College in 1975 and a Masters in Art Education from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1977. From 1 ...

(born 1950), a Japanese-born artist *

Meret Oppenheim In Egyptian mythology, Meret (also spelled Mert) was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as singing and dancing. In myth Meret was a token wife occasionally given to Hapi, the god of the Nile flood. Her name being a ref ...

(1913–1985), a German-born Swiss artist, identified with the

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

movement *

John Outterbridge John Outterbridge (March 12, 1933 – November 12, 2020) was an American artist and community activist who lived and worked in Los Angeles, California. His work explores the issues surrounding personal identity such as family, community and the e ...

(1933–2020), an American artist known for his pioneering work in assemblage; Outterbridge’s sculptures, created from found objects and discarded materials, explored themes of African American identity, history, and social justice; he was a key figure in the Los Angeles Black Arts Movement and served as the director of the Watts Towers Art Center *

Wolfgang Paalen Wolfgang Robert Paalen (July 22, 1905 in Vienna, Austria – September 24, 1959 in Taxco, Mexico) was an Austrian-Mexican painter, sculptor, and Aesthetics, art philosopher. A member of the Abstraction-Création group from 1934 to 1935, he joine ...

(1905–1959), an Austrian-German-Mexican surrealist artist and theorist, founder of the magazine DYN and known for several assembled objects, f.e.

Nuage articulé ''Nuage articulé'' ''(Articulated cloud)'' is a surrealist object in the form of an assemblage by Wolfgang Paalen produced in 1937. The object consists of an umbrella covered with natural sponges and was one of the most significant objects at t ...

Noah Purifoy Noah S. Purifoy (August 17, 1917 – March 5, 2004) was an African-American visual artist and sculptor, co-founder of the Watts Towers Art Center, and creator of the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum. He lived and worked most of his life in ...

(1917–2004), an African-American visual artist and sculptor, co-founder of the Watts Towers Art Center, and creator of the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum; he is best known for his assemblage sculpture, including a body of work made from charred debris and wreckage collected after the Watts Riots of August 1965 * Sara Rahbar (born 1976), sculptor, collagist, mixed media artist, best known for her flag series *

(1925–2008), painter and collagist known for his mixed media works during six decades * Fred H. Roster (born 1944), an American sculptor *

Betye Saar Betye Irene Saar (born July 30, 1926) is an American artist known for her work in the medium of Assemblage (art), assemblage. Saar is a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, w ...

(born 1926), American visual artist primarily known for her assemblages with family memorabilia, stereotyped African American figures from folk culture and advertising, mystical amulets and charms, and ritual and tribal objects *

Alexis Smith Margaret Alexis Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress, pin-up girl and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Aw ...

(born 1949) is an American artist best known for assemblages and installations *

Daniel Spoerri Daniel Spoerri (; 27 March 1930 – 6 November 2024) was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer. He is considered to be an important figure among the artists within the so-called "second wave" of the Pop art movement. Spoerri is best kno ...

(born 1930), a Swiss artist, known for his "snare pictures" in which he captures a group of objects, such as the remains of meals eaten by individuals, including the plates, silverware, and glasses, all of which are fixed to the table or board, which is then displayed on a wall *

(1885–1953), a Russian artist known for his counter-reliefs—structures made of wood and iron for hanging in wall corners in the 1910s *

Jeffrey Vallance Jeffrey Karl Reese Vallance (born January 25, 1955, in Redondo Beach, California) is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for projects that blur the lines between object-making, instal ...

(born 1955), an American artist known for his assemblages, drawings, sculptures, paintings and conceptual art *

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are ...

(1932–1998), known for his use of concrete in his work. In his environments, video installations, and paintings he used television sets and concrete, as well as telephones, real cars, and pieces of automobiles * Gordon Wagner (1915–1987), was a pioneer in American assemblage art, who was known for his bazaar art, painting, poetry, and writing * Jeff Wassmann (born 1958), an American-born contemporary artist who works in Australia under the nom de plume of the pioneering German modernist Johann Dieter Wassmann (1841–1898) *

Tom Wesselmann Thomas K. Wesselmann (February 23, 1931 – December 17, 2004) was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture. Early years Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati. From 1949 to 1951 he atten ...

(1931–2004), an American Pop artist, painter, sculptor, and printmaker * H. C. Westermann (1922–1981), an American sculptor and printmaker File:John Chamberlain at the Hirshhorn.jpg, John Chamberlain, ''S'', 1959, in the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

File:Werner Stuerenburg 5.jpg, Werner Stürenburg, ''Nr. 5'', 1968 File:Lubo Kristek,Entlärmte Ästhetik des Luxuriesens,1976,Assemblage,152x101cm.jpg, Lubo Kristek, ''Soundproof Aesthetic of Luxuriety'', 1976 File:Ontological Catastrophe by Steve Brudniak.jpg, Steve Brudniak, ''Ontological Catastrophe'' (2019), antique electronic test equipment, engraved cast iron, carved phenolic and ABS plastics, 51 x 31 x 7 in.

History

Artists primarily or partially known for assemblage

See also

References

Further reading