In 1961 New York's Museum of Modern Art surveyed the art of assemblage in an exhibition that brought the fragmented work of Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell, Bruce Conner and Edward Kienholz to a wider audience. More than 50 years later, the museum has raided the archives for the finest examples of collage, a sister artform that layers, juxtaposes and remixes materials not just physically but conceptually.
'Cut 'n' Paste', curated by Pedro Gadanho and Phoebe Springstubb of MoMA's department of architecture and design, takes an oft overlooked technique and reveals it as an apt and meaningful commentator on our contemporary culture.
The show goes back to the early 20th century - to figures like Edward Steichen and Giorgio de Chirico - to explore a genre that's bridged the Cubist works of Picasso and Braque (the style, after all, takes its name from the French 'coller'). It takes a visual journey through Surrealism, Pop Art and Postmodernism. And it reveals how architects starting with Mies van der Rohe adopted the cut-and-paste technique to bring their work alive. The curators reverentially refer to this architectural overlap as 'collage city'; extensive layering brings a depth to these works that is almost immersive.
En route, this many-layered showcase gives a history of the past century, a lesson that goes beyond the crèche into a far higher realm.
A collage of collages includes, clockwise, from upper left, 'The Evil Genius of a King', 1914-15, by Giorgio de Chirico; a poster for Berlin's Symphony of the Metropolis, 1927, by an unknown artist; 'The Maypole (Empire State Building)', 1932, by Edward Steichen; 'Collage', 1926, by Ivo Pannaggi; and an excerpt from the film 'Chelovek S. Kino-apparatom (The man with the movie camera)', 1929, by Dziga Vertov.
'4 April 1997 - 4 June 1999, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin', a chromogenic colour print by Michael Wesely (left) and 'Untitled from the series Fictions', 2009, by Filip Dujardin (right).
'Metropolis', 1923, by Paul Citroen
'Archigram 1961 - 74 (Museum für Gestaltung)', 1995, by Ralph Schraivogel
A cut-and-paste reproduction from 1954 called 'Convention Hall Project, Chicago. Interior perspective', by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
ADDRESS
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019-5497
-
For her first Rome retrospective, artist Anthea Hamilton reconsiders OthelloIn ‘Soft You,’ now on view at Fondazione Memmo, sensuality and severity coexist.
-
Want to be a Venice pavilion commissioner? Bring ideas – and your RolodexThe impressive showings of the USA's Venice pavilion in the Giardini belie the ambitious fundraising efforts that underpin them. Past and present curators tell us how it works
-
Ma Yansong's latest project is anchored by a gleaming stainless steel 'tornado'The new Fenix museum in Rotterdam, devoted to migration, marks MAD's first European cultural project.
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Leonard Baby's paintings reflect on his fundamentalist upbringing, a decade after he left the churchThe American artist considers depression and the suppressed queerness of his childhood in a series of intensely personal paintings, on show at Half Gallery, New York
-
MoMA names Christophe Cherix its new directorThe Swiss-born curator has worked in the Museum of Modern Art’s drawings and prints department since 2007
-
Desert X 2025 review: a new American dream grows in the Coachella ValleyWill Jennings reports from the epic California art festival. Here are the highlights
-
This rainbow-coloured flower show was inspired by Luis Barragán's architectureModernism shows off its flowery side at the New York Botanical Garden's annual orchid show.
-
‘Psychedelic art palace’ Meow Wolf is coming to New YorkThe ultimate immersive exhibition, which combines art and theatre in its surreal shows, is opening a seventh outpost in The Seaport neighbourhood
-
Wim Wenders’ photographs of moody Americana capture the themes in the director’s iconic films'Driving without a destination is my greatest passion,' says Wenders. whose new exhibition has opened in New York’s Howard Greenberg Gallery
-
20 years on, ‘The Gates’ makes a digital return to Central ParkThe 2005 installation ‘The Gates’ by Christo and Jeanne-Claude marks its 20th anniversary with a digital comeback, relived through the lens of your phone
