Mixed media
Mixed media describes any artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed - oil paint alongside printed oilcloth, pigment over pasted paper, fabric, wood, or found objects. The practice is old, but it became a conscious modern strategy with cubist collage: Picasso's Still Life with Chair Caning (1912), oil and printed oilcloth roped onto canvas, is often called the first cubist collage and, by some, the first assemblage. Dada photomontage, Kurt Schwitters' Merz constructions, and Robert Rauschenberg's Combines pushed mixing further, dissolving the border between painting, sculpture, and everyday material. Because it deliberately juxtaposes incompatible substances, mixed media makes the texture, history, and associations of each material part of the picture's meaning.
Defining characteristics
- Visible juxtaposition of unlike materials: paint beside paper, fabric, wood, or found objects
- Collaged or pasted elements that interrupt the painted surface
- Contrasting textures and sheens - matte paper against gloss paint, rough fabric against smooth board
- Built-up, three-dimensional relief (assemblage) rather than a flat picture plane
- Everyday objects or printed matter kept recognizable inside the composition
Key figures
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) — Made Still Life with Chair Caning (1912), the first cubist collage
- Georges Braque (1882-1963) — With Picasso, pioneered collage and papier collé in 1912
- Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) — Built Merz collages and assemblages from found materials
- Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) — Combined painting with found objects in his Combines
Example works
- Still Life with Chair Caning — Pablo Picasso (1912)
- Merzbau — Kurt Schwitters
- Monogram — Robert Rauschenberg (1955-1959)
Sources
- Mixed media - Wikipedia encyclopedia