Met showcases classy collages

Cut-and-paste collage resurfaces as an art form at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newest exhibit, “Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage.”

The exhibit, which opened Tuesday in the Howard Gilman Gallery, is a far cry from the standard photography show, featuring intricate and fantastical photocollages made in the 1860s and 1870s by aristocratic Victorian women. Collages often seem simple and rudimentary, mere pieces of paper cut and pasted together—many students have likely made collages in elementary school art class, or have used collage techniques in scrapbooking.

Yet the unique collage techniques used by these Victorian photocollage artists are multifaceted and stimulating.  “Playing with Pictures” introduces viewers to the predominately aristocratic English women’s practice of combining rich watercolor pieces with monotone portrait photographs. Many of the photographs used are cartes de visites, small portraits that were affordable and easy to distribute. These became so popular, in fact, that a “cartomania” hit England in the 1860s, during which an estimated 4 million cartes of Queen Victoria were purchased.

As photography became more of a democratic art form, these photocollages worked to restore an aura of status to their aristocratic creators. Traditional media forms, such as watercolor paintings, were still limited to those capable of either producing or purchasing them. What truly distinguishes this unique form of photocollage, however, is the artistic and emotional value buried within each work. 

In several of the photocollages, familiar landscapes and common Victorian interior decorations give way to portrayals of fantastical scenes incorporating carte de visite cutouts. One work from Georgina Berkeley’s album shows a little boy blowing some rather bizarre bubbles—bubbles of cut-out heads. This creates a looming sense of surrealism that simultaneously inspires intrigue and wonder.

Other works overcome the technical limits of photography by depicting scenes that simply could not have been caught on camera at the time. One of Charlotte Milles’ collages illuminates a group of figures in eerie moonlight that would have been lost to darkness in photography. Still other works are decorated with motifs of spider webs intertwined with cut-out portraits in revolutionary and humorous scenes, demonstrating artistic narrative and initiative to transcend social convention.  

Also showcased at the exhibit are actual works from albums protected in glass displays, as well as digitalized versions on computer screens for convenient browsing. Regardless of the form of display, photocollage reasserts itself through this invigorating exhibit as a playful yet powerful art form.

The exhibit runs through May 9 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Avenue at E. 82nd Street. Friday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m.