So I’m sure you’re all familiar with the early 1900′s French poet Jacques Prévert, right? He was a poet primarily, but also a surrealist collage artist(!) and had some excellent coffee breaks with Raymond Queneau and Marcel Duchamp. Talkin about toilets.

Turns out he’s got some pretty bizarre collage skillz that World Famous Design Junkies just happens to have a collection of. What do you know! Take a peep!

While you’re scrolling down to the bizarre pictures, take a read of this BONUS poem!

to paint a portrait of a bird:

First paint a cage
with an open door
then paint
something pretty
something simple
something beautiful
something useful
for the bird
then place the canvas against a tree
in a garden
in a wood
or in a forest
hide behind the tree
without speaking
without moving …
Sometimes the bird comes quickly
but he can just as well spend long years
before deciding
Don’t get discouraged
wait
wait years if necessary
the swiftness or slowness of the coming
of the bird having no rapport
with the success of the picture
When the bird comes
if he comes
observe the most profound silence
wait till the bird enters the cage
and when he has entered
gently close the door with a brush
then
paint out all the bars one by one
taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird
Then paint the portrait of the tree
choosing the most beautiful of its branches
for the bird
paint also the green foliage and the wind’s freshness
the dust of the sun
and the noise of insects in the summer heat
and then wait for the bird to decide to sing
If the bird doesn’t sing
it’s a bad sign
a sign that the painting is bad
but if he sings it’s a good sign
a sign that you can sign
so then so gently you pull out
one of the feathers of the bird
and you write your name in a corner of the picture

That poem is by our main man in 1900′s France, Jacques Prévert. Now check out his collage collection. Many of them are included in a book that was made of his collected collage works, a book called… can you guess… “Jacques Prévert Collages.”

So nice, huh?

This post is straight up a part of the World Famous Design Junkies ancient category – which incidentally houses anything older than my car. Also if you’re interested in collage work, just use your handy-dandy search function: [collage search activation go!]