Curriculum Materials: Art in America
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Image 28 George Morrison Questions: |
Collage IX: Landscape
Morrison constructed this huge collage by gluing pieces of wood to a plywood panel. He combined many different shapes, sizes, textures, and colors of wood to create an abstract landscape. Morrison maintains that this art form is an extension of painting - that he, in fact, "paints" with wood as he also paints with acrylic and oil paint. By attaching three-dimensional shapes to a two-dimensional surface, he combines characteristics of both painting and sculpture. The size of this collage attests to Morrison's interest in the large-scale works by the ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST painters he knew when living in New York.
Some of the pieces of wood, as well as the inspiration for the landscape itself, may have come from the shores of Lake Superior. The wood exhibits various textures, from smooth to rough, and a wide range of colors, from light gray to deep brown. Painted red and blue pieces appear throughout the COMPOSITION.
The horizon line is a very important element of Morrison's art. He likens the horizon of Lake Superior to the edge of the world. In this landscape, the horizon line is about one quarter of the way down from the top. As in other works, the first step of the artist's working process was to determine where the horizon line would be. He then began to lay down pieces in the lower left corner, moving toward the horizon line.
Although abstract themselves, the individual pieces of
wood suggest an endless variety of natural forms. Largely
straight-lined and angular shapes prevail above the horizon
line. Their systematic arrangement suggests the calm order
of the sky. A semicircle at the upper edge at the collage
could be the moon or the sun. The shapes below the horizon
are more irregular with curved edges. More chaotically
arranged, they suggest the variations of waves, rocks, and
water and land plants.
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