Dada Photomontage

Dada artists were critical of the political strategies that 'dominant social structures' that led to the first World War. They saw the carnage and havoc of the war was proof that the rationalism and order or civilization was an illusion that people believed, though rather than preventing destruction they believed that reason and acceptance was the supreme authority in matters of belief and opinions.
Whenever people were put under strict suppression and forced to follow certain rules, values, principles and to follow guidelines and a fixed path, it would not always lead to success since the people would rebel. The Dada artists brought out their sensibilities, expressing themselves through opposites in various forms, taking the medium of art and literature as their weapon.

With the new systems that were shaping and controlling society, they turned to different and new art making strategies and techniques, so they began to embrace chance, accident, destruction and improvisation in art. This lead to their creations of collages and photomontages which included the practices of craft, control and intentionally, these creations became a form of personal protest and tools for criticizing the violent and mechanized world they lived in. 
To make these photomontages and collages, they used imagery from newspapers, magazines, printed mass media etc. 
The Dada artists wanted to shock and 'attack' the 'bourgeoisie', the capitalist class that owns most of societies money, with their own imagery that had been distorted and formed into a piece with a meaning or message behind it.


Photomontages and collages didn't always look the same, some were quite different from others with different shapes and colours included, though they were linked to being personal protests linked to the first world war and German government.
There were quite a few Dada artists that became a breakthrough in the art community, famous, inspiring to others etc. These include artists like Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Hannah Hoch, Alexander Rodchenko, Johannes Baader etc.

"The Hat Makes The Man" By Max Ernst

Max Ernst made a piece called "The Hat Makes The Man", it's cut, pasted, stacked images of mens hats from a sales catalog. Though the towers of hats are suggestively crude and phallic, and the hats linking to being a symbol for repressed desire.

Dada collage is a combination of images to create a piece of artwork that doesn't necessarily represent anything but a photomontage is a combination of images put together to recreate or make something new.

"Metz Picture 32 A. The Cherry Picture" By
Kurt Schwitters

Kurt Schwitters made a piece with the name of "Merz Picture 32A. The Cherry Picture" which is made up of scraps and objects he had carefully affixed to with glue and nails to a painted board to make a collage and had collected from the streets of his hometown in Germany, Hanover.

The words 'Merz Picture 32A belongs to his 'Merz Series', it being a term he had made up by cutting a scrap from a second syllable Herman word 'Kommerzw' which is also included in his early early paintings.

The piece has many layers, including light and dark paint on the board to form a base for the collage, newspaper clippings, an image of kittens, various fabrics, candy wrappers, a broken pipe which protrudes from the surface, and a flashcard of cherries which Schwitters wrote "I love she!"

"The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows"
By May Ray

Man Ray made a piece called "The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows", it's made up entirely of oil paint and was one of Man Ray's numerous collage experiments.

Its original composition was inspired by the view of a tightrope dancer in a performance, he cut coloured paper into shapes to resemble the dancers acrobatic movements. Though he wasn't satisfied with how these piece of paper looked on the piece and threw them onto the floor, which is where he then saw an abstract pattern, this was then incorporated into his piece.

The dancer is outlined in grey and white at the top of the canvas, her legs and skirts in various positions simutainsly, the tightrope is depicted in six ways, each line swinging out from the dancers feet atop the large areas of colour which represents shadows cast by her figure.

"3 Standard Stoppages" By Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp made a piece called "3 Standard Stoppages" which I also included in another 'blog post'.
It looks like a wood based toolkit, he dropped three one meter long threads from the height of one meter onto three canvas strips, the strips were adhered to the canvases, preserving random curves they had made upon landing.

This deliberately useless toolkit links to the standard way of measurement but also simultaneously making fun at the scientific method.

His description of the piece and outcome is similar to a mathematical theory: "If a straight thread one meter long falls from a height of one meter onto a horizontal plane twisting as it pleases, it creates a new image of the unit of length."

International Dada Fair of 1920

The Cabret Voltaire is a museum in Berlin made by Dadaists. he peak of Berlin Dada was the International Dada Fair of 1920, the image was within the Cabaret Voltaire during the second World War, the central symbol was an effigy made from a a mannequin doll and dressed to look like a German officer with the head of a pig hung from the ceiling. An example of a Dada artist expressing their opinion in a different form of the war.

Raoul Hausmann was known as one of the founders of Berlin Dada, he always worked against and defying the Capitalist regime and showed his concerns about it through his work. 
Being part of the Berlin Dadaists they were more demonstrative and were more inclined to express their worries and concerns towards the social and political groups, so with Haussmann's versatile personality and being a great designer, artist, photographer and in literature, he used all of these talents to make photomontages, collages and other art forms as a protest mechanism against the system. Throughout Haussmann's life, he was more inclined towards painting and literate and tried to voice his protests through them in his art and poetry.

Raoul Hausmann was born on the 12th of July, 
1886 in Austria-Hungary in Vienna and died on 
the 1st of February 1971 at the age of 82 in France.

Haussmann was regularly contributing articles to Der Strum, a German art and literature magazine, in collaboration with other writers like Franz Jung, a writer economist and political activist in Germany, though Haussmann's articles were more satirical and were aimed to critic the Capitalist in a subtle tone.
When he returned to Berlin in 1917 he was introduced to the contemporary literature magazine 'Cabaret Voltaire', and during the time that the Dadaist movement was spreading to Berlin, Hausmann prepared his weapons of art and literature to paint his canvas and use his words to express his protests and channel his social and political oppositions through his art form, though it was only after a successful meeting and vacation with the fellow Dada artist 'Hannah Hoch', which he had an extramarital romance with, that he then developed his techniques of photomontage and an explosive future for him. It was during their vacation to the Baltic Sea that the idea of photomontage inspired him, which he then picked as his new art form, building it to vent out his protests and Dadaist claims.



Dada Siegt

In 1920, Hausmann had began experimenting with the new type of art photomontage which is influenced by collage cubism, fitting different elements of text and photographs into a single work of art, though he also believed that this form of art was more comparable to common man than those in higher class societies.

Dada Seigt is a Dada style and a good example of the usage of collage techniques over watercolour and other media, it also seems to include an aspect of a representation of Haussmann's personal life, with how he saw things and how different it may be to him compared to someone else. Each image on the piece seems to stand out on the solid background of the walls and floor, it not being too crowded nor too empty and spacious. Hausmann created shadows in the composition behind each figure, adding more detail and dimension into it aswell as a form of aspect.


Tatlin at Home

Tatlin at Home photomontage presents a situation in which how the human mind is controlled by a rational and unemotional thought, and that the war that ravaged Europe is what had made society to make decisions influenced by such an emotion.
The central subject of the work is the Russian Constructivist artist Vladimir Tatlin who was an artist and architect for the Constructivist movement, which is devoted to using art for practical and social practices. So this piece of work was Hausmann trying to send a message to people about the dangers of their irrationality, representing Tatlin with a machine that has replaced his brain, representing 'mechanical thought', and being free of any emotion.
The overall aspect of the 'Tatlin at Home' piece is that Hausmann was promoting rational thought, but in a an irrational manner, which is what Dada is and does in art.

Dada Seigt and Tatlin at home were produced during 1920, photomontages of Hausman 'spelling' out his discomfort and concerns towards authority, especially when he, like many others, were forced to not express their thoughts or in any manner they felt.

ABCD

ABCD piece, made in 1922, looks as an intense piece with the colours and placement of shapes, words etc. It's actually a self portrait of Hausmann, his mouth is open and clenching the letters 'ABCD' with an expression that looks like he's screaming and experiencing discomfort, showing his discomfort towards the authrority and trying to express his concerns but can only clench onto them and not express them in the manner they felt. There's also some information of one of Hausmann's upcoming poetry readings within the piece, being a reference to literary side of the Dada movement.
Tickets are cut up and scattered in various places, along wit hands, money, an extinguisher and various words hidden within the piece and symbols which Hausmann used to encourage the audience to challenge beliefs and create individual opinions. Some might see it as having a hideous meaning while others might see it meaning something else.

The Mechanical Head (The Sprit of Our Time)

The Mechanical Head was one of Hausmann's well known pieces, it was finished in 1921 and was assembled out of many common tools on a wooden head, common devices such as a ruler, a watch and parts of a typewriter, all being devices of measurement and information, the head being changed into its own form of an instrument. The human form of the head captures the essence of people in his time, lacking expression and feeling with no memorable or special qualities which is probably why Huasmann chose it.
The head is simple and symmetrical, with no pupils, hair or ears, the 'man' having 'lost' it's uniqueness, representing the German man in the following years of World War 1.
Compared to previous pieces Hausmann had made on the human form, it's not as complex and shows a different sort of man, not confronting an issue of the anatomy of the human body, but of the human mind.
He implies how people have become slaves to the devices around them, disillusioned on them to make decisions, relying on them to survive with the lack of creativity and emotion and to show that people had became cold and mechanical.

Hausmann believed that the German society had lost its human spirit due to the result of the country's condition after the first World War, the country was devastated after losing the war and many Germans had died with countless more crippled of injured.

The Art Critique 

The Art Critic was made to show how Hausmann and others within Dada disapproved and had become disgusted with the more traditional art styles and the lifestyles they had represented, the piece challenges the idea of it as well as how the critics qualifications and motivations for deciding what is acceptable art.
The Art Critic can also be interpreted as a representation of society as a whole during his time, Hausmann didn't agree with the lack of individuality, he was also against the influence of money especially within the capitalist society but supported new, different forms of art.
The chaotic placement of the photographs and cutouts express his feelings, the centre subject of the piece is The Art Critic, using the cutout of a man with a head that is much larger than the body who is identified as another member from Dada, George Grosz whose name is stamped on the photo but crossed out with red crosses. The man's mouth and eyes are cartoonish, drawn with coloured pencil, the 'art critic' is holding a large pencil, then beside the man is a woman and the shape of a man cut out of a newspaper.

The distorted face of the critic represents how the critics opinions are irrelevent, bias and distorted, the words in the background being the critics words, loud and hard to understand, the pencil represents a sword, showing how much power he has with his weapon, his eyes that are drawn messily cannot properly see art as they should and only sees what he thinks the woman, a member of high society, wants him to see since they have money and that the art critic has became a slave to them. So whatever opinions he may have they are unimportant and untrue to Hausmann.


Was born on the 19th of June, 1891 in Berlin
in Schmargendorf, his original name being
Helmut Herzfeld.

John Heartfield was a perfectionist and at first a landscape painter, but as he was introduced to the Dada movement by George Grosz in 1916 he became the pioneer of photomontage.
He worked on his method of reusing and appropriating photographs into a strong, powerful and mostly political pieces, expressing his opinions through his work with the reused photographs, for example, a poster trying to promote positive views on Hitler then being changed into something that promotes negative views about Hitler.
The images Heartfield made reflected on the chaos Germany experienced in the 1920's and 1930's as it was controlled by communists and Nazis, falling towards social and political chaos as Nazi Germany came into power with their rules, social construct and strong, aggressive political views.

Died on the 26th of April, 1968 in East Germany,
East Berlin.

Heartfield's work were mainly photo-based and included the symbols for the communist party, the Nazi swastika and Hitler, his face over the body of a monkey to show what Heartfield thinks of him. It included images of clenched fists, open palms and raised arms, all representing determination and bold action. Much of Heartfield's work was political referenced to historical events or reflected on earlier works of another artists, either promoting or disagreeing with their work, depending on their views and what the art was for or representing.

A Berlin Saying

A Berlin Saying, made in 1929, was an iconic piece by Heartfield and had appeared on a hugely successful literature magazine by the Dada movement he had collaborated with Kurt Tucholsky.
Putting ears on the sides of the trousers was considered to be a simple yet iconic design the Dada movement used, it was seen as quite an effective way to show opinion through a piece about something and representing it as silly, stupid, childish, someone talking out of their backside etc.
The piece was seen as quite a devastating critique of the Weimar Republic, an unofficial German state between 1919 and 1933.

Adolf, The Superman: Swallows Gold and
Spouts Junk

Adolf, The Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk was made in 1932 and being one of his several famous images he made, using his Photomontage technique, Heartfield created a satirical image by combing different photographs including the face of Hitler, a column of gold coins, X-Ray of a human body and the Nazi party swastica placed over where the heart would be.
Heartfield refers to the large donations that wealthy industries and companies were making to the Nazi party, resulting in Hitler having a large amount of financial support and noting being fair to the working people like he said he would in some of his speeches.
The X-Rayed torso is used as a metaphor to expose Hitler's hidden interest in wealth and financial power, contradicting to his pro working class speeches and showing that he doesn't actually care about the working people.

And Yet It Moves

And Yet It Moves was made in 1943, it's quite widely accepted that this piece is actually a reference to a scientist called Galileo, who was persecuted for his theory that the earth revolved around the sun, a correct theory which many had disagreed on and caused him to be persecuted. Though when he was released from the Inquisition, Galileo stomped on the ground and said "And yet it moves." Which was then quoted to be used as the title for Heartfield's piece.
The piece shows Hitler as an ape with a sword, the sword symbolising military power which threatens the world as it spins, helmet, horns and armband with the Nazi swatisica, while sat on top of Europe. With Hitler being depicted as a monkey to show that his evolution as a human and man has stopped, that he behaves like a primitive animal and not as a sane person. It could also be predicted in the horns on top of his head to represent the actions he's taken and related to 'Satan' and having a vision of world domination, though despite all of that, the world is shown as to still be spinning.

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Höch was one of the only women able to display her work in the Dada movement of 1920 during the first world war, creating some of the most radical pieces of her time. She had strong opinions on the German government, rejecting it, but focused her criticism more on gender issues, though was also recognised as a pioneering feminist artist. She was a partner to the fellow Dadaist Raoul Hausmann for a period of time.

Hoch took inspiration from Pablo Picasso's works and a fellow Dadaist Kurt Schwitters. Known for her collage and photomontage works with dynamic and layered style, putting images together from popular magazines including fashion and illustrations, making humorous and powerful pieces. She preferred metaphoric imagery than the more direct, text-based, confrontational approach, something John Heartfield's work was which she found 'tedious'. Her work included appropriating and rearranging images and text from mass media to sometimes critique the failings of the Wiemar German government. 

Untitled

Untitled was made in 1920, unlike most of her works, instead of focusing on depth in this piece, it focused on and had more intensive patterning, though people believe that this piece reflects on Hoch's commercial work creating crafts for women's magazines.
The background consists of lines and markings making up patterns with how fabrics would, various mechanical images are placed upside down on top of the pattern with a man pointing at one of them, representing the newly industrialised world and how they seem to look by modern artists.
Hoch links how we see mechanical objects to be linked to males, the mechanics being viewed as male imagery which Hoch also links it to subverting the patriarchy by the means of turning the mechanical images upside down, this also references to Huasmann's "Mechanical Head Spirit of the Age"
On top of the turntable is a female figure, seeming to be stretching next to a male figure to her right, who is pointing to at her figure. A theory of the piece is that the male gaze is said to be asserting power when staring while the turntable suggests movement of the female figure so the movement is repetitive and predictable, so her dance would attract the male gaze.

Grotesque

Hannah Hoch's photomontages were normally pieces of work that communicated her views on social and politics that had been built on the exploitation of women and used her artwork to alter the representation of these views in society. The two cut out heads placed on two feminine legs creates emotions that Hannah was trying to transmit of lust, disgust and anxiety, the women's facing having a beautiful eye and red lips while the mans is old with two big eyes with lust, one being red and bigger than the other eye. Both of the bits of faces are placed on top of two girls legs, giving the viewers a provocative insight on the idealized perception of women in society.

Cut through the Dada Kitchen Knife through the
Last Weimar Beer-Belly

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/hannah-hoch-cut-with-the-dada-kitchen-knife-through-the-last-weimar-beer-belly-cultural-epoch-in-germany (for kitchen knife)

Love