Fragmentary Forms: a New History of Collage Unavailable

Why did Picasso (and Braque) invent collage, why in Paris, and why exactly in 1912? Because they were men, artists, geniuses, because they were driven by a creative impulse toward the new (in this case within the novelty of Cubism they had also invented), and because they were doing so in a time and a place that could institutionally recognize their achievement. Or to put it more bluntly: because this has long been how art history taught us how to think about collage and the rules of the game in art in general; a game with winners and losers, with a strong sense of the “tradition of the new,” with no room for craft and amateur work, paying little or no attention to women and those working anonymously or collectively in the sphere of domestic and private life, in short with a sharp awareness of the difference between the unique...