Collage

Man Ray, Emak Bakia  1926, remade 1970

Emak Bakia is made from the neck of a cello and loose horse hair. Man Ray found the original cello piece in a fleamarket. As it looked old, he felt the urge to point humorously to its age and gave it flowing white hair – the horse hair that would be used in a bow. The hair gives the piece a disconcerting vitality. The title comes from an experimental film or ’cine-poem’ of the same name that Man Ray made in 1926. In the Basque language it means ’leave me alone’.

Gallery label, October 2016

Joan Miró, The Tightrope Walker  1970

Miró often used discarded materials, some of them discovered in the foundry. His aim was to create what he called an ‘unlikely marriage of recognisable forms’. The body of the tightrope walker is made from a child's doll, cast into bronze. The base on which it rests is the cone through which the bronze was poured, while the nails originally held the mould together. The mottled and textured surface results from acid deposits left by the casting process. Each of these elements has an expressive role within the sculpture which, like much of Miró's work, combines humour with suggestions of violence.

Gallery label, July 2013

Kurt Schwitters, Picture of Spatial Growths - Picture with Two Small Dogs  1920–39

Schwitters started this assemblage of discarded rubbish and printed ephemera in Germany in 1920. Seventeen years later he brought it with him to Norway, having escaped from Nazi Germany. There he added Norwegian material: theatre tickets, receipts, newspaper cuttings, scraps of lace, and a box with two china dogs. The different layers of collage reflect the artist’s journey into exile.

Gallery label, January 2016

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Two Triangles  1957

Two Triangles 1957 is a paper collage on card that features an array of coloured shapes including two large purple triangles in the centre, as well as circles, rectangles, waves, straight lines and dotted areas made up of small rectangular patches of paper. The composition is abstract, with the shapes overlapping or butting up against one another to form a flat, colourful arrangement. Despite this abstract quality, the purple triangles, which have white vertical lines running down their centres, could be seen to represent boats or tents, with the wave, circle and squiggle that immediately surround them suggestive of the sea, a sun or moon and foliage. All of the forms in the work are made from pieces of cut paper in bright hues that are pasted onto beige-coloured card.

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Game  c.1960

Game c.1960 depicts two figures seated cross-legged on the floor, facing one another and playing a board game. The figure on the left gestures over the board, while the one on the right seems to rest back as if awaiting their next turn. The shapes in the composition are formed from pieces of cut paper in bold, bright colours that include purple, yellow, red, green, dark blue and black. These are pasted onto beige-coloured card to form the scene, with pencil lines visible around the figures, especially in the areas of their heads and arms.

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Lady with Fruit  1957

Lady with Fruit 1957 is a paper collage on card that depicts a female figure, seen frontally and positioned in the centre of the almost square composition. She holds a number of brightly coloured items in her hands and lap, and is surrounded by abstract shapes in similarly bold colours, including orange, green, pink, blue and yellow. All of the forms in the composition are made from pieces of cut paper in bright hues that are pasted onto beige-coloured card.

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Three Figures  c.1960

Three Figures c.1960 is a paper collage on card that depicts two orange-coloured, seated individuals on the left and a larger beige one on the right who is dressed in red and green striped attire. The orange figures appear as if in profile and look towards the larger individual, who is seen frontally. Surrounding them is a set of abstract forms in orange, yellow and blue, perhaps representing domestic objects and a screen or wall. All of the forms in the composition are made from pieces of cut paper in bright hues that are pasted onto beige-coloured card.

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Conversation  c.1960

Conversation c.1960 depicts two figures seated on stools, their bodies facing in opposite directions. The figure on the left has its torso and head turned to face the other person, suggesting the movement of twisting around while engaged in conversation. The figures are formed from pieces of cut paper in bold, bright colours that include orange, red, green, dark blue and black. These are pasted onto beige-coloured card to form the scene.

Benode Behari Mukherjee, Still Life with Key  c.1965

Still Life with Key c.1965 is a paper collage on card that features an array of coloured shapes including triangles, circles, squares, rhomboids and waves. These are laid over a central block of collaged newspaper, which features both advertisements and columns of text. At the top of the composition is a key shape formed from black and pink paper. All of the forms in the work are made from pieces of cut paper in bright hues that are pasted onto beige-coloured card.

Carol Rama, Bricolage  1968

Bricolage 1968 is a work on Masonite with collaged elements by the Italian artist Carol Rama. It is thickly painted with brown, yellow, red and black paint, with four groupings of dolls’ eyes embedded in the surface. It measures 700 by 600 millimetres, a size which is consistent with that of Rama’s other works of this period. It was made in Turin and is signed and dated in the lower left corner. The title is a French word for something that has been constructed from a diverse range of objects and materials.

Enrico Baj, Fire! Fire!  1963–4

Baj’s works were influenced by the absurd humour and unconventional techniques of surrealism and dada. He was also associated with CoBrA, a group of European artists who adopted a highly expressionist painting style inspired by children’s art. In the mid-1950s Baj started painting caricatured figures on found fabrics, adding details made from collaged objects. In Fire! Fire! pieces of Meccano construction toys form a figure, while the leaves on the woven fabric are suggestive of flames. Other works of this period poke fun at ideas of power and authority, such as Baj’s portraits of military officers ‘decorated’ with real medals.

Gallery label, November 2021