Photomontage
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Photomontage is the process (and result) of making a composite picture by cutting and joining a number of photographs. The English photographer, Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901) is credited with making the first photomontages, soon after starting his career in 1857.
Many of the early examples of fine-art photomontage, superimposed photographed elements on watercolours, a combination returned to by (e.g.) George Grosz, in about 1915. He was part of the Dada movement in Berlin which was instrumental in making montage into a modern art-form. The other major exponents were John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters, Raoul Hausmann and Johannes Baader. Later, the Surrealists widely used the technique, most notably Max Ernst and Pierre Molinier. Current exponents include Keith Wigdor.
David Ridge has extended this idea by using photographs of painted, sculptured landscapes as part of his compositions (1999/2000). Other methods for combining pictures are also called photomontage, such as combination printing (the printing from more than one negative on a single piece of printing paper (e.g. O. G. Rejlander, 1857)), front-projection and computer montage techniques.
Creating a photomontage has become easier with the advent of computer software such as Adobe Photoshop. These programs make the changes digitally, allowing for faster workflow and more precise results.
Other influntial artists that used photomontage include Aleksandr Rodchenko, Salvador Dalí, and David Hockney.
External links
- Surrealist photomontages of Keith Wigdor (http://www.hammondgallery.co.uk/artist.php3?aid=292)
- Cut & Paste: a history of photomontage (http://www.cutandpaste.info)de:Fotomontage