Victorian Collage Fodder
These free ephemera printables might be some of the first examples of mass-produced collage fodder. The pages came from a book printed in 1870 that was made up of images cut out from 19th-century magazines. Collage art was an emerging trend during the Victorian period due in part to the mass availability of printed materials to pull from. Scrapbooking also started getting some traction around the same time. This book might have catered to hobbyists enjoying those pastimes. Use this OG clipart to craft just like the Victorians.
Also, make sure you visit the ephemera section of my library of free printables. You may like these Victorian magic props catalog ephemera sheets, these vintage shop fixtures ephemera sheets, and others.
Scroll down, and you’ll find five different ephemera sheets with a mixture of images.
During the Victorian period (1837 to 1901), the arts of collage and scrapbooking experienced an increase in popularity. There was a boom in printed materials like newspapers, magazines, and books. These contained lots of pictures and words that people cut out and used as collage fodder in their art or albums. These materials provided a vast pool of resources for those interested in collage art and scrapbooking. The collage sheets you find on this page are a good example of this because they were created with clippings from publications of the time.
Scrapbooking became a favorite pastime, particularly among the middle and upper classes. People enjoyed putting together photos, clippings, and keepsakes in albums. Making them look nice and telling a story through them nurtured the trend of arranging materials in visually appealing ways, which fed into the growing interest in collage art.
The Victorian era was a time of exploration and innovation in the arts. Artists were looking for new ways to express themselves. Collage became a unique way to blend different materials, such as photos, drawings, and written words, to make something different and thought provoking.
The cultural landscape of the Victorian era was marked by a penchant for collecting and cataloging, propelled by a rapidly expanding pool of knowledge and information. Collage, as an artistic form, offered the ability to layer meanings through the combination of diverse images and texts, aligning perfectly with the Victorian fascination for hidden meanings and symbolism.
Mary Delany was an artist known for her impressive collage work, especially her intricate botanical collages. She carefully cut and arranged pieces of paper to create stunning designs. Her work symbolized the detailed and delicate nature of Victorian collage art.
Sir John Tenniel, known for his illustrations in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," also contributed to the popularity of collage art. His innovative and imaginative approach in combining various visual elements added to the allure of this artistic form.
The rise in collage art's popularity during the Victorian era was a result of several factors, including the abundance of printed materials, the growing culture of scrapbooking, the atmosphere of artistic experimentation, and the resonance of collage with the cultural and social ethos of the time. Together, these factors propelled collage into the forefront of artistic expression during this transformative period in history.
If everyone likes these ephemera sheets, consider them a first installment because there were 32 pages in the book. I probably won’t make them all into sheets because some of them were cut off when they got scanned, and some had uninteresting images not worth reproducing. But I believe there were enough decent pages to warrant another post or two.
Add this free vintage ephemera to your supplies for art journaling, junk journaling, bullet journaling, collage, artist trading cards (ATCs), scrapbooking and other mixed media artwork and crafts.
If you enjoy these free journal papers, be sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest, so you’ll see when I post new ones.
You may also enjoy these free collage sheets.
Terms of use:
Free to use for personal or commercial projects. You may print the collage sheets as many times as you wish for your personal crafts or in your projects to sell, including: art journals, scrapbooks, junk journals, collage art, etc. You may not redistribute or sell the collage sheets “as is" in either print or digital form.
If you wish to share the files on your own website, please do not make the files available for download directly from your site. Instead, include an image with a link back to this site.
To the best of my knowledge, these are all royalty free images that are in the Public Domain in the US. However, you should always do your own research if you plan to use them commercially.
