1st Edition

Form and Meaning in Avant-Garde Collage and Montage

By Magda Dragu Copyright 2020
    256 Pages 68 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    256 Pages 68 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book uses intermedial theories to study collage and montage, tracing the transformation of visual collage into photomontage in the early avant-garde period.

    Magda Dragu distinguishes between the concepts of collage and montage, as defined across several media (fine arts, literature, music, film, photography), based on the type of artistic meaning they generate, rather than the mechanical procedures involved. The book applies theories of intermediality to collage and montage, which is crucial for understanding collage as a form of cultural production. Throughout, the author considers the political implications, as collages and montages were often used for propagandistic purposes.

    This book combines research methods used in several areas of inquiry: art history, literary criticism, analytical philosophy, musicology, and aesthetics.

    Part One: Theories of intermediality: form and meaning

    1. The history

    2. The theory

    Part Two: Collage

    3. A heterogeneous articulation of meaning: avant-garde visual and verbal collage

    4. "The whole shebang!": musical collage and meaning

    Part Three: From collage to montage

    5. ‘Transparent’ replacements: visual collage and heterogeneous photomontage

    6. Intermedial models: film montage and homogeneous photomontage

    7. Chasing the ‘greased pig’ of meaning: literary and musical montage

     

    Biography

    Magda Dragu is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University Bloomington, USA.

    "Dragu’s book is ... a valuable addition to the field of modernist studies. The meticulous research conducted is a particular strength of the volume."

    --The Modernist Review

    "Dragu’s book is a much-needed, meticulously researched and highly original contribution to a field that is undergoing a resurgence of critical interest."

    --Polish Journal of English Studies

    "Dragu’s book helps one better comprehend the materiality of the literary and artistic works of the early avant-garde employing the techniques of collage and montage, opening new areas of research and inquiry into the international and national historical avant-gardes."

    --Mozaicul