Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany Flashcards
(29 cards)
date
1919
artist
Hannah Höch
full title
Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany
who was hannah hoch
was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage.
overall description
mix of photos arranged seemingly in random, chaotic fashion
variation of figures, many with mis matched bodies
both individuals and crowds
Figures interspersed with ball bearings, wheels and cogs
Words using different styles of typography
Fragmented image: the fragmentation reflects the political chaos of the time as well as the experience of modernity in a modern city (Berlin third largest city in Europe at the time)
what does the fragmentation reflect
*Fragmented image: the fragmentation reflects the political chaos of the time as well as the experience of modernity in a modern city (Berlin third largest city in Europe at the time)
composition
*Top right quadrant: represents the “anti-Dada world” and Weimar culture including Kaiser Wilhelm II (the last German emperor and the man who had lead Germany into WWI, he abdicated in 1918)
*Bottom right quadrant: represents “Die Grosse Welt Dada” (the great world of Dada) and depicts Left-leaning political heroes and key Dada figures as well as Höch herself (the idea being: Dada is aligned with Left-leaning revolutionary forces and supports women’s rights)
*Top left quadrant: features Dada propaganda with slogans such as “Invest your money in Dada”
*Bottom left quadrant: Dada persuasion, represents the masses in support of the political Left and Dada with slogans such as “Join Dada”
top right quadrant
*Top right quadrant: represents the “anti-Dada world” and Weimar culture including Kaiser Wilhelm II (the last German emperor and the man who had lead Germany into WWI, he abdicated in 1918)
bottom right quadrant
*Bottom right quadrant: represents “Die Grosse Welt Dada” (the great world of Dada) and depicts Left-leaning political heroes and key Dada figures as well as Höch herself (the idea being: Dada is aligned with Left-leaning revolutionary forces and supports women’s rights)
top left quadrant
*Top left quadrant: features Dada propaganda with slogans such as “Invest your money in Dada”
bottom left quadrant
*Bottom left quadrant: Dada persuasion, represents the masses in support of the political Left and Dada with slogans such as “Join Dada”
where are her images taken from
newspapers, posters, postcards and magazines
she reconstructs them to give it her own message
how did this technique of photocollage differ from cubist collage
developed out of Cubist collage – but it differs from Cubist collage in that it is more politicised – about satirizing the status quo
whats the process of using anti-art materials called
readymade
how does photomontage dismember reality
*Photomontage works by creating a provocative dismembering of reality: a scathing critique of contemporary situation in Weimar Germany
how does photomontage reject the idea of the artist making work
The word ‘montage’ means assembly-line in German; the word ‘monteur’ means mechanic; both reference the process of mass production and suggest ‘work’ not ‘art’: photomontage rejects the idea of the artist creating work
The materials themselves critique traditional notions of art and skill; shattered traditional hierarchies of art.
who invented photomontage
*Höch and her partner Raoul Hausmann invented the technique; the idea had originated from German army photographers, who inserted portrait heads into idealised settings for propagandist purposes
critical quotes about photomontage
*Hannan Höch: “Our whole purpose was to integrate objects from the world of machines and industry in the world of art.”
*Raoul Hausmann wrote: “It was like a thunderbolt: one could - I saw it instantaneously - make pictures, assembled entirely from cut-up photographs.”
*Raoul Hausmann wrote: “We decided to call these works photomontages. This term translates our aversion at playing the artist, and thinking of ourselves as engineers… we meant to construct, to assemble (montieren) our works.”
what was club dada and their beliefs
1917-22
Club Dada” became the gathering of Dada artists operating in Berlin . they collaborated techniques.
BELIEFS
highly political regional group of Dada practitioners in opposition to the status quo: disgust with the contemporary cultural situation
Group sided with the radical Left-leaning Communists against the German bourgeois Weimar government
what techniques did club dada use
*Club Dada art often has political overtones: agitprop (def. agitprop = political propaganda, especially in art or literature) - Use of photo collage/photo montage
when was the dada manifesto and what did it say
*1918 Dada Manifesto: “We call for an art which in its conscious content presents the thousandfold problems of the day, the art which has been visibly shattered by the explosions of last week, which is forever trying to collect its limbs after yesterday’s crash!”
critical quotes about club dada
*Raoul Hausmann ( one of the key figures in Berlin Dada) recalled: “It was like a thunderbolt: one could - I saw it instantaneously - make pictures, assembled entirely from cut-up photographs.”
quotes that condemn club dada
*Walter Benjamin (German Jewish philosopher and cultural critic, 1892 – 1940) gave a famous description of Dadaism: “The work of art of the Dadaists became an instrument of ballistics. It hit the spectator like a bullet.”
critical quote about the state of berlin at the time
Dawn Ades (Art History professor): “Towards the end of WWI, Berlin was a half-starved nightmare city, and there was increasing social and political chaos, which was to last until 1933.”
