Page 86 - Expanded Photography

Expanded Photography Bob Cotton 86/146
“After having made the (first) Papiers collés, I felt a great shock, and it was an even greater shock for Picasso when I showed it to him” (Braque to Andre Vedier, in Richardson: A Life of Picasso, quoted in Taylor: op cit.).Braque and Picasso working separately, went on the explore this new me- dium 1912-1914.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collage-Making-Modern-Brandon-Taylor/dp/0500238162
Picasso: Studio wall Interior of Pablo Picasso’s studio, 1912, 242, Boulevard Raspail, Paris. You can see some of the exploratory drawings-cum-collage on the wall of Picasso’s Paris studio at this time - not only a fascinating insight into his working methods but an indicator of his formal working development of a neo-abstract theme based on The Guitar.
I think that this photograph indicates just how central - how important - the invention of the papier collés/collage methodology was in this first couple of decades of the 20th century. It shows clearly how Braque and Picasso were developing modernist art studio practice. And note that already in 1912, the collage format is being pushed into three dimensions (the cubist Guitar piece centre top). It was in this kind of paper-based, ad hoc practice, using bits of wall-paper, newspaper, packaging, bar bills, bottle labels - using whatever was lying around the studio - literally perhaps the detritus on the floor - to create quick sketches of a range of approaches to a work - wherein a strand of 20th century creative methodology began to take shape.
https://www.artforum.com/print/201101/picasso-guitars-1912-1914-27045