Semester:
Offered:
Maria Gough
Photomontage—the assembly of photographic fragments—is as old as photography itself. This seminar offers an episodic history of the medium, examining its use in not only the fine arts but also aristocratic photocollage albums, radical scrapbooks, revolutionary political posters distributed en masse, and monumental displays at exhibitions and trade fairs. Of particular interest is the use of photomontage for the expression of political dissent (Berlin Dada) and the affirmative representation of public assemblies and collectivities.
Facilitated by the Harvard Art Museum’s major acquisition of works by Gustavs Klucis, a Latvian photomonteur active in Moscow in the 1920s and 1930s, and the Houghton Library’s growing collection of photomontaged books and magazines, the seminar will study the wide-ranging deployment of the medium first-hand. Other photomonteurs to be discussed include, inter alia, Hannah Höch, John Heartfield, Valentina Kulagina, Marianne Brandt, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, El Lissitzky, Claude Cahun, Charlotte Perriand, Mieczysław Berman, Romare Bearden, Martha Rosler, and Wangechi Mutu.
A darkroom session on campus will introduce students to analogue processes for the making of photomontage, while a Department-funded field trip will enable us to visit New York museums and meet with one of the world’s most important collectors of photomontage. In consultation with the instructor, students may write on the work of any practitioner of the medium. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates; limit 10.