El Lissitzky, Sergei Sen'kin, Katalog des Sowjet-Pavillons auf der Internationalen Presse-Ausstellung (Catalog of the Soviet Pavilion at the International Press Exhibition), Cologne, 1928. Concertina volume with photomechanical reproductions, collection Merrill C. Berman.
A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Shock of the News, examines the manifestations of the "newspaper phenomenon" from 1909 to 2009 through works by more than 60 artists. A span of collages, paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, and photographs reflect on the role of newsprint in art, as subject and material.
Artist and designer El Lissitzky (Soviet, 1890-1941) designed the exhibition catalog for the Soviet Pavilion at the International Press Exhibition in Cologne, 1928, an exhibition that informed visitors about the significance of the press in Soviet society since the Revolution. The catalog integrates typography and images into a dynamic compositional style, presenting material not in diagrams or drawings but as a fusion of exhibition items--kinetic objects, models, statistics, neon advertisements, and illustrations.
Hans Arp, Cover of the journal Dada, no. 4-5: Anthologie Dada, 1919. Woodcut on colored paper adhered to newsprint (deluxe edition), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Sculptor and collagist Hans Arp (French, 1886-1966) had his origins in abstract painting, later taking up impulses from Cubist collage. Putting together materials as he discovered them, Arp mixed organic and geometric shapes, creating montages of unaltered fragments of found objects.
Man Ray, Transmutation, 1916. Watercolor, ink, crayon, charcoal, graphite, and collage on newspaper, Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
An early collage piece entitled Transmutation, 1916, points to painter, photographer and filmmaker Man Ray's (American, 1890-1976) interest in the film medium and anticipates his later film production of the 1920s. It features a sheet of newspaper turned on its side, over which are pasted the letters THEATR, indirectly referring to Ray's own cinematic ideas.
A novel exhibition of artists using newspaper as an integral part of their material. On view through January 27.
National Gallery of Art, on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, DC.
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