COLLAGE

 

Collage was always important for Fred, but for years he was quick to add two personal rules: individual collage pieces needed to be cut "away from the line" and they had to be kept loose and floating. And it was only through a few of his photographs that we can see what he had in mind.

In 1988, while giving a lecture at the University of Michigan, he decided to try making collages from precisely cut pieces. From shortly after his return to Prescott until quite near his death he made collages: cut carefully "on the line," and "glued" down (using Scotch 415, double-coated tape). His first public exhibition of his collages was at George Eastman House, www.geh.org, in 1991.

Often he had loose pieces on his table, and he enjoyed letting guests "play" with them: moving them around, linking them as design. What was remarkable was that almost as often, what was laid out looked contrived or arbitrary. Sometimes, he would give the pieces a quick tweak as he passed by and suddenly they fit, naturally and elegantly. As with his musical scores, his visual memory and sense was astounding. He could see linkages between elements that were only obvious after he made them.

Although he was very proud of them, he sometimes worried that they weren't good. We would chat at night, occasionally, about this. He was exploring design in fresh, new ways, but the world wasn't clamoring for shows, and there weren't sales. We both felt that if people saw them, then perhaps they would get the acknowledge they deserved. We talked about doing a Web site, or, if I did one, we could put them there. Fred died in January, 1999, and was never able to see this. It is something I regret.

Here is a small gallery of his collages. All works are © 1989-1998 by Frederick Sommer.

Collage gallery