Montage

I chose the montage series that was done by Rene Magritte called “Two works by Magritte, La Gacheuse 1935, and L’Invention collective, 1934.” The first image really caught my eye due to the skeleton head attached to a normal human body. Rene Magritte reveals the disparity and tragedy of humanity with this montage. I believe the human body of real flesh and breasts represents the good and light of humanity while the skeletal head symbolizes the darkness and evil that we see so much of in this world. He reveals the truth through her montage collections. His other montage depicts a fish merged with a woman’s legs on a shore of a beach. This is another symbolic montage with a hidden meaning. I believe the hidden meaning is commenting on the idea of mermaids and the mystery and beauty that usually comes with them. Ironically, however, he has removed this beauty by putting a fish head on legs. Some say it was a “mockery of the traditional mermaid” and his use of opposites “reveals the strangeness hidden behind the most familiar things.” The fish and legs also look stranded, unable to move from the position and spot on the shore. This also is symbolic to a “fish out of water,” in which most people are familiar with. I did not enjoy this montage as much as the first one. I did not love what is depicted but its meaning was profound and interesting. I found both images inspiring for my own montage project. I want to use the same ideas as Rene in taking things that are familiar to society and revealing the disturbing truth of it all. The truth that no one wants to see or hear because its dark and evil. I want to mimic this true surrealism that Rene has succeeded in creating with his montage collections, specially with these montages. I look forward to thinking about society in this way and revealing the truth through photography and montage.

Fantastic Photomontage and its possible influences, 1857-2007: a timeline http://www.d-log.info/timeline/index.html

https://www.renemagritte.org/the-collective-invention.jsp