Collage History and Practice

Collage History and Practice is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by Robert Seydel.

Course Description
Collage has been called the single most revolutionary formal innovation in artistic representation to occur in our century. In this class we will examine the history and practice of collage across disciplines, looking at literary, visual, and other forms of the medium, which may be defined more aptly as a type of mentality peculiarly suited to a century of dislocation and fragmentation. Our studies will include an examination of collage workings as a central aspect of Cubism, Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism, among other groupings of the early and later avant-garde, and will proceed through to the present, following William Burroughs and Brion Gison's cut-up methods and the California artists of assemblage (Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner, George Herms, and Jess Collins) to the New York School of Correspondence and contemporary photographic versions of the spirit of collage. Readings in the poetry and poetics of the early avant-garde will include selections from Americans such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, as well as texts by such European figures as Kurt Schwitters and Tristan Tzara, among numerous others. Other primary texts will include writings by Mary Ann Caws and Marjorie Perloff. Students will be responsible for completing a number of collage-based assignments, the keeping of a journal/work, and a research paper. Prerequisite courses include a 100-level course in media arts (Introduction to Media, 100-level art history or equivalent) and an introductory studio course that must be completed before registering for this course. NOTE: Enrolled or top 5 waitlist students who do not attend the first class session risk losing their place on the class roster.