Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. The highest point of it’s popularity came in World War I. In 1916, John Heartfield and George Grosz experimented with pasting pictures together, a form of art later named “Photomontage.” Heartfield was the first to use photomontage to tell a “story” from the front cover of the book to the back cover.
Images by Heartfield 1930’s
Alexander Rodchenko
Rodchenko discovered new ways to condense space, time, and information into single images, where realism and abstraction, high and low culture, and multiple narratives were mixed and layered as never before. Innovations in graphic art developed hand-in-hand with the rise of the film industry, for which artists found new work designing posters and advertising material, and with the use of montage in film editing. This revolution in style and aesthetics was helped along by the advancement of mechanical means of reproduction, such as photographic printing and lithography, and by the increasingly vast circulation and distribution of mass-media publications.
Rodchenko works with both colour and black and white, his outlines of his cut-outs are harsh and he has multiple layers to one image.
My Photomontage Edits
For this image I started with a black and white background and copied the layer for each coloured circle i made, to create the circles i used the elliptical marquee tool and created a range of sized circles on each layer whilst changing the hue to get different colours and changing the saturation to have stronger, more vibrant colours.
For these images I started with a background then cut and pasted another image on top and used the rectangular marquee tool to section the areas i wanted the second image to overlap. I selected my area, inverse and deleted it to leave the shape I originally selected. My images were already colourful as I used transparent sheets over the lights when i took the pictures. I contrasted colour with black and white to make my shapes stand out and have a sharp outline and contrast to the image behind it.
Photo-montage is a medium that can be traced back to the Dadaists in 1915, a Zurich artist movement, who used this technique to make political statements, which can be seen in their protest against the First World War. Dada artist Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield and Hannah Hoch, used this medium in order to create propaganda for this opposing statement of the war. This propaganda often showcased what can be called the cut-n-paste technique, which consisted of section of cut out images layered over one another, creating a final piece. This Dadaist movement can be said to be a style of surrealism, in which conventional art is challenged with these distorted forms of reality, using the increasingly popular media of photography.
Mood Board
Grete Stern
Raoul Haussman
Christian Marclay-Album Covers
Joachim Schmid
Eugenia Loli
Jesse Draxler
Martha Rosler
Soviet war art and propaganda
Andy Warhol
John Stezaker
John Stezaker, born in 1949, is an English artist best known for his conceptual photomontages, in which usually display either two portraits, or a portrait and a landscape layered over one another creating a collage like result. The images that Stezaker uses for these pieces are found photographs, ranging from film stills, postcards, magazines, books or commercial photographs. It has been said that this style of photomontage takes a similar form as the work of early pioneers such as Hannah Hoch and Man Ray, showcases the features of Dadaism and surrealism. John Stezaker’s series named ‘Marriage’ appears to focus on portraiture, displaying two juxtaposing images of film stars overlapping creating one fragmented form. However, within Stezaker’s series named ‘Mask XIII’ the photomontages consist of one celebrity portrait in black and white, with a juxtaposing colour landscape, usually taken from a postcard, concealing the face.
Analysis
Mask XIV 2006 John Stezaker
This image created by John Stezaker showcases a photomontage of a black and white portrait, in which the upper half of the face is concealed by a colour landscape. The portrait used in this piece presents the subject directly in the centre of the frame, with only their head and shoulders visible, leaving only a small amount of empty space above and to the side of the subject. The landscape chosen by Stezaker showcases what appears to be a cave with two openings, which act as a sort of replacement for the eyes in this collage, with the connecting structure in between them resembling a nose. Furthermore, these outlines of the cave entrances also act as leading lines for this collage, as they not only resemble the facial features missing, but also correspond with the shape of the face, continuing the curve upwards. The overlay of this photograph juxtaposes the background image with its dark and earthy tones, creating a strong contrast with the lightness of the portrait.
From a technical point of view it can be said that chosen portrait was taken with studio soft lighting, due to the consistent light tone throughout the image and lack of harsh shadows behind the subject. In addition, it can also be seen that the lighting used to capture the landscape photograph must have been natural. It appears that the aperture used for both images was low, allowing for a large depth of field, as the focal range seems to be the same within the foreground and backgrounds. For the landscape the ISO would have been set high, as there is only a small amount of light entering the photograph, through the cave, meaning that the camera would need to capture as much light as possible. However, the portrait would only require a low ISO setting due to the studio lighting flooding the image.
This piece taken from John Stezaker’s mask series is said to be inspired by an essay written by Elias Canetti’s on masks and unmasking in his book Crowds and Power. Another form of inspiration was taken from teaching a course in the origins of art, with the mask being the point of origin, Stezaker has stated. This provoked Stezaker to create these collages, with the aim to exhibit the urge for ‘exile from life in the world of images’
My Photomontages
Magazine Cut Outs
For these portrait photomontages I cut out sections of images from a magazine of film stars aiming to resemble Fujiwara’s ‘Marriage’ series. I cut these sections out using a craft knife, allowing for a precise and neat line. I then experimented with placements of the cutouts.
Photoshop Edits
For these portrait and landscape photomontage edits, I aimed to replicate Fujiwara’s ‘Mask XIII’ series by using Photoshop to layer these images. Firstly I edited two of my own images by converting them into black and white for the background layer, then I layered over a landscape image of mine, concealing the upper half of the face. Next, I used two images taken from a magazine as a background layer, then again concealed the upper face with one of my own landscapes.
Final Image
I believe that this photomontage using magazine cut outs is my best image as it best shows resemblance to John Stezaker’s found image pieces. This is as like Stezaker’s, I used found images of film stars of opposite genders, in order to juxtapose each other, to create this final piece. In addition, these portraits used are of the head and shoulders, leaving a small amount of empty space around the subject. However, I also believe that I could produce a better result by taking more of my own images, and combining them with found images.
Satoshi Fujiwara is a Japanese photographer, based in Berlin, known for his jarringly different perspective on portraits, displaying extreme close ups, in which the entire face was confined within the frame, and digital manipulation. Fujiwara first developed his interest for photography through his career as a graphic designer and planner in an advertising company. This was due to a fascination with the way in which visual information was consumed and the impact it had on society. Furthermore, his exhibitions continued this commentary on society by presenting his work in a way which matched his innovative style of photography. This was done by printing his images onto PVC sheets and attaching them to the walls with various materials such as packaging tape and metal bars, causing the images to fold and slump around the gallery space, leaving the meaning of his presentation up to the interpretation of the viewers.
Satoshi Fujiwara up close images
Analysis
This colour image taken by Satoshi Fujiwara displays an extreme close up head-shot of a woman, which reveals the varying texture of her skin which appears coarse and cracked in some places but smooth in others. Also, the image posses a warm tone due to the yellow and orange tones in her hair, skin and glasses, which take up the majority of the photograph. Here Fujiwara has framed the image in a way which the face is confined in the frame, leaving very little empty space which can be seen on the right of the photograph. Another way that this jarring perspective makes for a complex composition is the defined wrinkles that run through the subjects face, creating leading lines across the image that draw your from the bottom of the composition upwards.
From a technical point of view, it can be said that the lighting used to take this photograph is hard one-point lighting, due to the fact that the background of the image is completely black, and the wrinkles in the face are intensified by dark, contrasting shadows. In addition, here Fujiwara seems to be using a large aperture, as again the small amount of background that can be seen, is plain and shows no important features that would add to the composition. As this photograph was taken in what looks like a dark setting, the ISO used for this image must be high, allowing for the camera to take in as much light as possible, to make the portrait visible. Looking at the definition in this photograph, Fujiwara most likely used a fast shutter-speed, due to the fact the woman also seems to be in motion, making it a more difficult task to produce such a high quality photograph.
Photo-Shoot
Plan
Contact Sheets
Here I have highlighted the photographs I believe are of the best quality and link to Satoshi Fujiwara’s work, in green, which I will later edit in photoshop. In red, I have crossed out the images that I will not edit, due to the fact that they are either over exposed or unfocused.
Edited Images
In order to make my photographs resemble the work of Fujiwara, I firstly increased the contrast of each photograph and slightly decreased the exposure, allowing for a sharper image . After I increased the shadows replicating the dark backgrounds in Fujiwara’s images. I also used the dodge and burn tool to intensify these highlights and shadows.
Final Image
I believe that this edited image is my best as it best displays similarities to Satoshi Fujiwara’s unique style of extreme close up photography. This is due to the dark background that is just about visible around the edges of the image, and the warm tone of the portrait. I also aimed to capture a dissaproving facial expression within this photograph, which can also be seen in some of Fujiwara’s work that often exhibits images that appear to be taken of guard.
Double or multi exposure is a style of photography that superimposes two, or more, images to create one single image. This technique first emerged in the 1860s when it was used by photographers to earn more money, by making the subject of the photograph appear twice within one image. This originally was done by photographing over already used film, however nowadays we are able to create similar results using resources such as Photoshop.
Edited Images
For these double/multi exposure edits I took some of my previous studio portrait photography and edited them using Photoshop. To do this I dragged one portrait over another similar to it, and used the opacity tool to lighten the top layer, making it so both images are visible. I then adjusted the photographs and placed them making sure the faces were slightly apart from each other.
Satoshi Fujiwara was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1984. Fujiwara is a Postwar and contemporary artist who started his photography career in 2012 after he quit his job in Japan and decided to move to Berlin. Satoshi Fujiwara’s style of portraiture is unique and somewhat abstract to the human eye. He takes extreme close-ups of people and crops them to his desired size, through this method he has created some iconic images. His work has been featured in multiple art exhibitions at key galleries and museums such as the Jameel Arts Centre and the MOCA Toronto. Fujiwara has also had work featured in articles for the ArtDaily, The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.
Examples of Satoshi Fujiwara’s work
From the ‘Code Unknown’ series – Satoshi Fujiwara (2015)
‘Crowd Landscape’ – Satoshi Fujiwara (2019)
From the ‘Code Unknown’ series – Satoshi Fujiwara (2015)
Analysis of Satoshi Fujiwara’s work
This photograph taken by Satoshi Fujiwara, is part of the artists ‘Code Unknown’ series from 2015 that focuses on close-up portraits of everyday people with harsh shadows and highlights.
The lighting used in this photograph is very harsh and is directed from one side of the face. In my opinion, sunlight was used to illuminate the face as there is almost a golden tinge to the image. The lighting creates prominent highlights above the cheekbones and around the nose, and caliginous shadows from the right side of the face, especially around the eyes.
The use of line in the photo are provided mainly by the wrinkles on the woman’s face. These thin, curved lines create a downwards motion that directs the viewer’s eyes from the top of the face to the bottom, which creates emphasis of the lips and chin. These organic lines are juxtaposed with the straight, geometric lines of the woman’s glasses, that are slanted across her face, which also contribute to the overall downwards motion of the photograph.
A subtle use of repetition can be seen in the woman’s glasses, which display a repetitive, geometric pattern
There is representation of both geometric and organic shapes within this image. Although most of the shapes in this photograph are organic and natural, these are contrasted with the minute representation of geometric shapes that are found in the glasses in the woman’s hand.
There is a very shallow depth of field in this photograph, as the highlighted, left side of the face is in clear detail, however the right side of the face begins to blur into the shadows. Nearly all the space in the photo is positive, as it is filled up by the woman’s face, although a small section of the background can be seen as negative space as a black backdrop is used.
There is a strong focus on texture in this image, aswell as a clear focus on juxtaposing textures in the photograph. For example, the woman’s cheek contains the appearance of a smooth texture, which is contradicted by the rough wrinkles that inhabit the chin and forehead. The hair also gives the appearance of an almost wiry texture that contrasts the other textures individually.
There is a range of tones from dark to light in this photograph, as the harsh lighting both illuminates and darkness the face. The lightest areas of the face can be seen on the left side, on the cheek and around the eyebrow, and on the high points of the face. The darkest areas can be seen on the right side of the face, where almost the whole face is in darkness. This is especially seen in the wrinkles of the face and around the eyes.
Although the lighting in the image is rather harsh in the photograph, the colours are rather subdued and natural. The main colour palette of the image consists of beige and brown colours, however this is contrasted with the blackish shadows on the right side of the face. If the image was taken in black and white there would be a stronger contrast between dark and light, however the addition of colour allows for a juxtaposition between tones.
The composition of the image is difficult to interpret as there is no geometrical shapes that can be superimposed onto the image and the photographer has not use the rule of thirds in this piece. The focus on composition in this image lies in the close up method that is iconic for Satoshi Fujiwara’s work.
Photo-montage is a photographic/art technique where two or more images are overlapped and rearranged together to create a brand new image. In 1916, John Heartfield and George Grosz experimented with pasting pictures together to promote anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements, this resulted in the photo-montage art technique. Photo-montage is often used as a means of expressing political dissent, it was initially used in 1915 by Dadaists in their protests against the First World War. The term “photo-montage” became widely known at the end of World War 1, around 1918 or 1919, and was used between a wide variety of art forms. For example, the Surrealists adopted the photo-montage technique due to it’s ability to bring together various different images to create an abstract representation of the workings of the unconscious mind. Recently, photo-montage has been used in psychedelic art by contemporary artists and photographers to reflect political messages, about topics such as climate change, in a visual way that is easy to understand yet also very impactful.
Photo-Montage Mood Board
Hannah Höch
Hannah Höch (1889-1978) was a German Dada artist known for her incisively political collages and photo-montages, a form she helped pioneer. Hannah Höch appropriated and recombined images and text from mass media to critique popular culture, the failings of the Weimar Republic, and the socially constructed roles of women. In 1917, Höch became associated with the Berlin Dada Group, which was a group of primarily male artists who critiqued and mocked German society and culture post World War 1. Her photo-montages received critical acclaim even with her male peers patronizing views, which still restricted women from having any real professional status from being depicted as ‘amateurs’.
Höch created her brilliant photo-montages by cutting out images from popular magazines and illustrated journals and layering them together to form impactful political pieces. The main themes Höch explored in her work were based around gender and identity, she humorously criticized Weimar Germany’s concept of the ‘New Woman’ who was allegedly man’s equal. Much of her work included feminist symbols and rebellious ideas that went against societies norms, she was extremely influential throughout her life and her work still impacts the world/societies views today.
Image Analysis
Hannah Höch | Indian Dancer | From an Ethnographic Museum | 1930
This photo-montage created by Hannah Höch is an extremely strong example of her political, revolutionary ideas about societies views on women. Her collaged model is the actress Renée Falconetti, appearing in a publicity still for Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc. Firstly, by Höch using such a famous face as the subject of her piece, it symbolizes that the patriarchal society she lived in shunned women of all professions and classes, even famous actresses. The composition of this piece shows half of Falconetti’s face is replaced with the ear, eye, and mouth of a wooden dance mask from Cameroon. I believe this choice of layering pieces of a mask over the subject’s face symbolizes how most ideas and suggestions from women were masked over and covered up for men to take the credit in Höch’s society. It signifies the expectations and assumptions that men had about women, to be hidden away and silenced for their controversial ideas. I really like the way Höch mocks this in her piece as she presents the masking of women as physical, not mental. Above her head rests a crown of cutlery; cut-out shapes of spoons and knives, set against glinting metallic foil. This choice clearly represents the status of women in contemporary German society, painting the model as a goddess of domestic finery by using such mundane kitchen utensils ridicules the common trivial phrase ‘a woman’s place is the kitchen’.
Technically the photo-montage holds little notable photographic techniques, however Höch’s choice of subject image has clear harsh lighting due to the bold shadow formed under her chin. The main highlights fall across the cut-out shapes of cutlery above her head which create a considerable tonal range and contrast between light and dark. This gives the impression that ideas closer to a woman’s heart were shadowed and hidden away from society, whereas the views placed in their head- about women’s role in civilization being only to provide for their husband’s- were publicized and highlighted. Furthermore, the repetition of the cutlery shapes connotes the idea that these concepts on women have been around for generations, Höch clearly believed they would continue if people didn’t start making a change to the way society ignored and disrespected women. Additionally, the plain blue-grey background, along with the overall dull colour palette of this piece, provides a clear link to Höch’s perspective on the community’s minds being blank towards the discrimination of women and their identities.
Photoshoot Plan
Who – I plan on photographing my friends Caitlin, Mai and Lauren for this photo-montage shoot due to their confidence in front of the camera. Additionally, all three girls have different looks and styles which will help portray my ideas about the triviality of society’s beauty standards.
What – I will capture images of my models in front of a black backdrop, looking straight at the camera lens with quite a blank facial expression. I then plan on gathering some images of celebrities and models from fashion magazines and cutting out certain facial features to layer over my primary images.
Where – I will conduct this photoshoot in the school’s art dry room, due to the photography studio being currently used as a drama classroom and therefore out of use.
How – I will take these images using the 1 point lighting technique with a standing LED soft box light to create a clear focal point on my subject’s face as well as a very dark black background to help it stand out, I also plan on capturing these images as mid-shots/head-shots.
Why – My aim in producing this photoshoot is to portray the effects modern media has on women’s perception of their faces and bodies, I wish to show how media’s constant flaunting of artificial women can have an effect on what society believes is the beauty standard they should conform to.
Contact Sheets
Selected Images
Photo-Montages
I created these photo-montages to highlight the effect modern media, such as magazines, has on women’s perception of themselves. I wanted to create the impression that the media’s constant portrayal of superficial women has influenced society’s expectations of ‘the perfect woman’, similar to the work of Hannah Hoch. I cut out features such as model’s eyes to layer over my portraits, connoting the common concept that girls with brown eyes want blue eyes and girls with blue eyes want brown etc; showing that nobody ever thinks they’re perfect, even when somebody else does. However, I decided I wanted to emphasise my subject’s lips also, so I cut out magazine model’s lips that were considerably bigger than my model’s to create this exaggerated effect. I believe this demonstrates the unrealistic expectations that all women must have big pouty lips to be beautiful, as modern media suggests with their excessive flaunting of them. Furthermore, as well as cutting out facial features from these popular magazines, I also found words and phrases that showed what women are compared to what their perceived to be. For example, in my first photo-montage I cut out the phrase ‘she performed’ to imply that women sometimes have to put up a façade in order to be heard or get their point across. Nevertheless, I paired this phrase with the words ‘loud mouth’ as it suggests women will get criticized for trying to voice their opinion in a society that is not open to their new ideas, linking to Hoch’s work on a woman’s place in society. Additionally, I cut out phrases such as ‘glowing skin’, ‘beauty’ and different well-known brands to show the things that the media believes women want, the things that this modern society thrive off of. Lastly, I chose to stick several model’s eyes around my subject’s head in order to demonstrate the idea that because of the world’s constant changing trends and styles, women may believe that society is always watching them and that the eyes of the people around them are consistently picking out their flaws and imperfections, clearly showing how modern media can influence are thoughts about ourselves.
She takes her photo in black and white to give the image a dull feeling to it to show the viewers that there is a sad feeling to this image and how behind this image is a sad message on how she can’t go to this view point anymore because its become a private area. The lighting of this image is natural and seems to be taken during the day coming close to sunset or after sun rise as you can see steams of natural sunlight going behind the clouds hiding the suns light giving the overall affect that it is going to rain. The image has a range of tones from the lake with white, light tones to simple dull grays at the grass next to the path then strong coal black on the hills.
a photo montage is a collection of photos, overlapped and merged together to create a collage. It was first used as a technique by the dadaists in 1915 in their protests against the First World War. It was later adopted by the surrealists who exploited the possibilities photo montage offered by using free association to bring together widely disparate images, to reflect the workings of the unconscious mind.
Hannah Hoch – art as a form of protest
Raoul Haussman
In these photos, the artists have cut and pasted different photos and over lapped them into one. It is seen that parts of the face have been placed appropriately on the original photo, so I mimicked this style of collaging my taking parts of existing portraits and positioning them on corresponding features on the base photo.
John Stezaker was born in England in 1949, and currently lives and works in London. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in the 1960s, and has since taught at Central Saint Martins School of Art. Stezaker is one of the leading artists in modern photographic collage and appropriation. Employing vintage photographs, old Hollywood film stills, travel postcards and other printed matter. John Stezaker’s work re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as documentation of truth, purveyor of memory, and symbol of modern culture. In his collages, Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as ‘readymades’. Stezaker asserts that the images “find him,” not the other way around.
‘Satoshi Fujiwara is a Kobe-born, Berlin-based artist and photographer. He initiates a pressing and critical action on the gazer, through the focal length set from portrayed subjects and the heterogeneous definition of his photographs, diverting from the standards of photo-journalism and an exclusively documentary dimension, thus producing a new emerging lexicon.’ – https://www.satoshi-fujiwara.com/about
Above are some images taken by Satoshi. As you can see, the tone is usually warm with high lighting and contrast. The way the are taken from up close allows a huge amount of detail in the face, which I assume was the goal. None of the subjects of Satoshi’s photos make direct eye contact to the camera, and are also taken at un-flattering angles making them seem as candid portraits.
To take these photographs, I used natural lighting- I tried to capture as much detail as I could, being wrinkles/hairs etc. However, Satoshi’s photos were still much more defined, with higher contrast and a warmer touch.
Using lightroom, I adjusted contrast and warmth to my liking. Compared to Satoshi’s work, mine a slightly more close-up. They also lack the smoothness and delicacy that you can see in her work. Overall, I like the detail in my outcome.
