An imaginary world composed of photorealistic inanimate, human, and plant objects spurs a psychological impact upon the viewer.

Photomontage showing what a complete iceberg might look like under water.

Photomontage is the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture was sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. The same method is accomplished today using image-editing software. The technique is referred to by professionals as "compositing", and in casual usage is often called "photoshopping".^[1] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 533 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (680 × 765 pixel, file size: 348 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Ralf Roletschek (User:Marcela) de: Grundlage war neben eigenen Fotos die Lotusblüte (PD) von [1] sowie 3D-Bilder aus AutoCAD File history... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 533 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (680 × 765 pixel, file size: 348 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Ralf Roletschek (User:Marcela) de: Grundlage war neben eigenen Fotos die Lotusblüte (PD) von [1] sowie 3D-Bilder aus AutoCAD File history... Image File history File links Iceberg. ... Image File history File links Iceberg. ... For other uses, see Iceberg (disambiguation). ... See also Image editing for the technical processes involved. ...

History

Author Oliver Grau in his book Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion notes that the creation of artificial immersive environments, arising as a result of technical exploitation of new inventions, is a long-standing human practice throughout the ages. Such environments as dioramas were made of composited images. A diorama is any of the two display devices mentioned below. ...

The first and most famous mid-Victorian photomontage (then called combination printing) was "The Two Ways of Life" (1857) by Oscar Rejlander, followed shortly by the pictures of photographer Henry Peach Robinson such as "Fading Away" (1858). These works actively set out to challenge the then-dominant painting and theatrical tableau vivants. Robinsons Fading Away Henry Peach Robinson (b. ... For other uses , see Painting (disambiguation). ... Tableau vivant, Folies Bergères c. ...

Fantasy photomontaged postcards were popular in the Victorian and Edwardian periods.^{[citation needed]} Many of the early examples of fine-art photomontage consist of photographed elements superimposed on watercolours, a combination returned to by (e.g.) George Grosz in about 1915. He was part of the Dada movement in Berlin which was instrumental in making montage into a modern art-form. They first coined the term "photomontage" at the end of the war, around 1918 or 1919. The other major exponents were John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters, Raoul Hausmann and Johannes Baader. Individual photos combined together to create a new subject or visual image proved to be a powerful tool for the Dadists protesting World War I and the interests that they believed inspired the war. Photomontage survived Dada and was a technique inherited and used by European Surrealists such as Salvador Dalí. The world's first retrospective show of photomontage was held in Germany in 1931. A later term coined in Europe was "photocollage"; which usually referred to large and ambitious works that added typography and brushwork or even actual objects stuck to the photomontage. George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... DaDa is a concept album by Alice Cooper, released in 1983. ... Self-portrait, 1920 Grave of John Heartfield in Berlin John Heartfield (June 19, 1891–April 26, 1968) is the anglicized name of the German photomontage artist Helmut Herzfeld. ... Hannah Höch (November 1, 1889 - May 31, 1978) was a famous Dada artist born in Gotha, Germany. ... Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German painter who was born in Hannover, Germany. ... Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886–February 1, 1971) was an Austrian sculptor and writer. ... Johannes Baader (June 22, 1875 – January 15, 1955), originally trained as an architect, was a writer and artist associated with Dada in Berlin. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), was a Spanish surrealist painter of Catalan descent born in Figueres, Catalonia (Spain). ...

Parallel to the Germans, Russian Constructivist artists such as El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko and the husband-and-wife team of Gustav Klutsis and Valentina Kulagina created pioneering photomontage work as propaganda for the Soviet government. In the education sphere, media arts director Rene Acevedo and Adrian Brannan have left their mark on art classrooms the world over. Tatlin Tower. ...   (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий, November 23, 1890 – December 30, 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer, and architect. ... Aleksandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko (Russian Александр Михайлович Родченко, November 23 (Old Style) December 5 (New Style), 1891 in St. ... Long live the worldwide October, 1933 Gustav Gustavovich Klutsis (1895 near Ruiena, Latvia – 1938), pioneering photographer and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde in the early 20th century, known for the Soviet revolutionary and Stalinist propaganda he produced with his wife and collaborator Valentina Kulagina. ... For other uses, see Propaganda (disambiguation). ... Soviet redirects here. ... Adrian Brannan is a contemporary artist who works mainly in the medium of photo collage focusing on cityscapes as his most frequently chosen subject matter. ...

Following his exile to Mexico in the late 1930s, Spanish Civil War activist and montage artist Joseph Renau compiled his acclaimed Fata Morgana USA: the American Way of Life, a book of photomontaged images highly critial of Americana and North American "consumer culture".^[2] His contemprary, Lola Alvarez Bravo experimented with photomontages on life and social issues in Mexican cities. For other uses, see Americana (disambiguation). ... Lola Alvarez Bravo (1907 - 1993) was a Mexican photographer. ...

In Argentina during the late 1940's, the German exile Grete Stern began to contribute photomontaged work on the theme of Sueños (Dreams), as part of a regular psychoanalytical article in Idilio magazine.^[3]

The pioneering techniques of the early photomontage artists were co-opted by the advertising industry from the late 1920s onwards.

Techniques

Other methods for combining pictures are also called photomontage, such as Victorian "combination printing", the printing from more than one negative on a single piece of printing paper (e.g. O. G. Rejlander, 1857), front-projection and computer montage techniques. Much like a collage is composed of multiple facets, artists also combine montage techniques. Romare Bearden's (1912-1988) series of black and white "photomontage projections" is an example. His method began with compositions of paper, paint, and photographs put on boards 8 1/2x11 inches. Bearden fixed the imagery with an emulsion that he then applied with handroller. Subsequently, he enlarged the collages photographically. Oscar Gustave Rejlander (Sweden 1813 – Clapham, London on 18 January 1875) was a pioneering Victorian art photographer. ... For other uses, see Collage (disambiguation). ... Romare Bearden, in his army uniform, a photograph taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 Romare Bearden, (September 2, 1911, in Charlotte, North Carolina—March 11, 1988 in New York, New York) was an African-American artist and writer. ...

The 19th century tradition of physically joining multiple images into a composite and photographing the results prevailed in press photography and offset lithography until the widespread use of digital image editing. Contemporary photo editors in magazines now create "paste-ups” digitally. The Offset Printing process Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or offset) first to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. ... Digital image editing is the process of altering digital images, whether they be digital photographs or other types of digitally represented images. ...

Creating a photomontage has, for the most part, become easier with the advent of computer software such as Adobe Photoshop, Pixel image editor, and GIMP. These programs make the changes digitally, allowing for faster workflow and more precise results. They also mitigate mistakes by allowing the artist to "undo" errors. Yet some artists are pushing the boundaries of digital image editing to create extremely time-intensive compositions that rival the demands of the traditional arts. The current trend is to create pictures that combine painting, theatre, illustration and graphics in a seamless photographic whole. Photoshop redirects here. ... Pixel image editor (formerly known as Pixel32) is an Adobe Photoshop-like image editor written by Pavel Kanzelsberger. ... For other uses, see Gimp (disambiguation). ...

The ethics of photomontage

A photomontage may contain elements at once real and imaginary. Two-dimensional representation of physical space in a picture is, by definition, an illusion. Such combined photos and digital manipulation can set up a collision between aesthetics and ethics - for instance, in faked news photographs that are presented to the world as real. In the United States, for example, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) have set out a Code of Ethics promoting the accuracy of published images, advising that photographers "do not manipulate images [...] that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects."^[4] The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... NPPA is the acronym for the National Press Photographers Association. ...

See: Photojournalism. Assault landing One of the first waves at Omaha Beach as photographed by Robert F. Sargent. ...

Scrapbooking photo-collage

Photomontage can also be present in the scrapbooking phenomenon, in which family images are pasted into scrapbooks and collaged along with paper ephemera and decorative items. Scrapbooking is a method for preserving a legacy of written history in the form of photographs, printed media, and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks. ...

Digital scrapbooking employs a computer to create simple collaged designs and captions. The amateur scrapbooker can turn home projects into professional output, such as CDs, DVDs, display on TV, or uploaded to a website for viewing or assembly into one or more books for sharing.

See: Scrapbooking Scrapbooking is a method for preserving a legacy of written history in the form of photographs, printed media, and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks. ...

Photo manipulation

Main article: Photo manipulation

Photo manipulation refers to taking a regular real life image and changing it into another real-looking image but with a different look to it. For example, taking a photo of a desert with pyramids and then making it look like the pyramids are on grass with more clouds behind them. Photo manipulation is the technique of modifying a photographic image by either analog or digital means. ...

Artists known for photomontage

Key photomontage artists include the following, listed alphabetical order:

Johannes Baader (June 22, 1875 – January 15, 1955), originally trained as an architect, was a writer and artist associated with Dada in Berlin. ... Thomas Barbèy (pronounced Bar-bay) (born 1957) is an American photomontage or photomixage artist who produces open-edition black & white prints and signed, limited edition sepia prints. ... Adrian Brannan is a contemporary artist who works mainly in the medium of photo collage focusing on cityscapes as his most frequently chosen subject matter. ... Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), was a Spanish surrealist painter of Catalan descent born in Figueres, Catalonia (Spain). ... George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. ... Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886–February 1, 1971) was an Austrian sculptor and writer. ... Self-portrait, 1920 Grave of John Heartfield in Berlin John Heartfield (June 19, 1891–April 26, 1968) is the anglicized name of the German photomontage artist Helmut Herzfeld. ... Hannah Höch (November 1, 1889 - May 31, 1978) was a famous Dada artist born in Gotha, Germany. ... We Two Boys Together Clinging, 1961. ... Long live the worldwide October, 1933 Gustav Gustavovich Klutsis (1895 near Ruiena, Latvia – 1938), pioneering photographer and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde in the early 20th century, known for the Soviet revolutionary and Stalinist propaganda he produced with his wife and collaborator Valentina Kulagina. ... John McHale (born Maryhill, Glasgow 1922, died Houston,Texas 1978) was an artist, a founder member of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and a founder of the Independent Group, which was a British movement that originated Pop Art which grew out of a fascination with American mass culture and post... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This article needs cleanup. ...   (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий, November 23, 1890 – December 30, 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer, and architect. ... Robinsons Fading Away Henry Peach Robinson (b. ... Aleksandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko (Russian Александр Михайлович Родченко, November 23 (Old Style) December 5 (New Style), 1891 in St. ... Thomas Ruff (born 1958 in Zell am Harmersbach) is an internationally renowned German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf. ... Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German painter who was born in Hannover, Germany. ... Jerry N. Uelsmann (born 11 June 1934 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American photographer. ... Jeff Wall (born Vancouver September 29 1946) is a Canadian photographer best known for his large-scale back-lit cibachrome photographs and art-historical writing. ...

References

• "It's hard to tell where pixels end and reality begins," The San Francisco Chronicle; September 26, 2006.
• "Fantasy, fairy tale and myth collide in images: By digitally altering photos of landscapes, artist Anthony Goicolea creates an intriguing world," The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia); June 19, 2006.
• "Life through a lens: A different perspective," Ealing Times; January 3, 2006.
• Greek Olympics; Outdoor Advertising Association of America
• "HP Celebrates America's Inventiveness by Creating World's Largest Digital Image," HP website. See also Business Wire; June 12, 2002.
• "A Portrait of Goldwater Is a Computer-Aided Mosaic of His Own," The Chronicle of Higher Education; February 1, 2002.
• "Musings on Collage: The Photomontages of Romare Bearden," The New York Times; May 11, 1997.
• Hans-Jürgen Tast (Hrsg.) „Eve of Destruction. Draußen ist Krieg, drinnen auch“ (Schellerten 2005) (z.m.a.K.) ISBN 3-88842-029-6;

Further reading

• Photomontage (World of Art series) by Dawn Ades. Thames & Hudson, 1989.
• Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, MIT Press 2002; Cambridge, Mass. ISBN 0-262-57223-0
• Adobe Master Class: Photoshop Compositing with John Lund, Adobe Press, 2003.

See also

• Photo editing
• Composograph
• Surrealist techniques
• Collage
• Cubism
• Scrapbooking
• Surrealism

See also Image editing for the technical processes involved. ... Composograph refers to a retouched photographic collage introduced by publisher and physical culture advocate Bernarr Macfadden in his New York Evening Graphic in 1924. ... Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous unique techniques and games to provide inspiration. ... For other uses, see Collage (disambiguation). ... Pablo Picasso, Le guitariste, 1910 Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas Georges BraqueWoman with a guitar, 1913 Juan Gris, Still Life with Fruit Dish and Mandolin, 1919, oil on canvas Cubist villa in Prague, Czech Republic Cubist House of the Black Madonna, Prague, Czech Republic, 1912 Cubism... Scrapbooking is a method for preserving a legacy of written history in the form of photographs, printed media, and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks. ... Max Ernst. ...

External links

• Photomontage Artists
• Cut & Paste: a history of photomontage
• Composite Photographs Historical Essay & Video Clips
• Interactive Digital Photomontage A semi-automated approach to Photomontage, published at SIGGRAPH 2004.
• Kafka, Proust, Hitchcock: the 3 Albums, "recomposed photographs" or digital photomontages