How did folk art use collage and assemblage before they became modern art techniques?

Folk art utilized techniques similar to collage and assemblage long before they were formalized as modern art movements. Rather than being a modern innovation, the spontaneous combination of diverse materials has a long-standing precedent in folk traditions, where artists frequently employed any available resource to create objects.1

In folk art, these methods were characterized by a free-wheeling approach to materials:

• Collage: Folk artists created commemorative pictures using human hair and crafted weather charms in southern Germany by collaging saints’ pictures, amulets, and seeds. Additionally, embroidered pictures often featured faces painted in watercolor, blending different media into a single composition.1
• Assemblage: The practice of constructing figures from various parts was common, often born from the necessity to overcome technical limitations. Festival figures were made from whatever materials were at hand, and large-scale figures were frequently assembled from disparate parts, such as using pegs for feet.21

These folk practices served as early prototypes for modern techniques, demonstrating that the creative adaptation of found objects is a deeply rooted human tradition.1