Assemblage

The technique of creating three-dimensional artworks by combining objects--both natural and manufactured, usually from the world outside art making and in their original form. Although Jean Dubuffet coined the term in 1953 to refer to his collages of that year, assemblage has roots in the early 20th century, particularly in Cubist collage and Dada readymades. The 1961 exhibition “The Art of Assemblage” at the Museum of Modern Art propelled the term to prominence as a way of describing a vast array of two- and three-dimensional practices, including works by Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell, and Pablo Picasso.