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Recorded: Saturday, June 5, 2010 @ Marvin Gelber Prints and Drawings Centre, Art Gallery of Ontario
Duration: 51:41

Join Playing with Pictures exhibition curator Liz Siegel for an exploration of the whimsical and sometimes surreal world of Victorian photocollage. By cutting up photographic portraits and pasting them into elaborate watercolor scenes they painted, aristocratic British women made work that is at once perfectly Victorian and ahead of its time, challenging both photographic convention and societal tradition. 

Elizabeth Siegel is the Associate Curator of Photography, Art Institute of Chicago.

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AGO Pays Homage to the History of Playing with Pictures

Sixty years ahead of the avant-garde, aristocratic women of the 1860s and 1870s combined photographs and watercolours to create the little-known phenomenon of Victorian photocollage. From June 5 to September 5, the Art Gallery of Ontario hosts Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage, organized by the Art Institute of Chicago.

Madame B Album

Because photocollage albums were almost exclusively made by upper-class English women, this album, with its French maker, is a rare example. However, Fournier likely had exposure to English diplomats in the international circles in which she traveled, and she may have been inspired to create her own album after seeing other examples or learning of the practice from her English acquaintances.

Play with Pictures and Win!

We’d love to see photocollages that you’ve created, either with our Playing with Pictures templates or your own originals. We’ll have monthly draws for a set of 2 free AGO tickets throughout the duration of the show, so post or send us your images for a chance to win!

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