MECHANICAL HEAD (FINAL) Flashcards
(23 cards)
artist
Raoul Hausmann
year
c. 1919
style
dada
berlin dada CONTEXT
*The Berlin Dada group included George Grosz, John Heartfield, Raoul Hausmann, Johannes Baader and Hannah Höch (1917-1922)
-disgust with the contemporary cultural situation
-Club Dada sided with the radical Left-leaning Communists against the German bourgeois Weimar government
-Use of photo collage / photo montage / assemblage
who was in the berlin dada group
George Grosz, John Heartfield, Raoul Hausmann, Johannes Baader and Hannah Höch
ow does mechanical head conform to the key characteristics of dada
(6)
*Rejected Western art
*Used shock tactics to sabotage the viewers’ expectations of art work (anti-art!)
*used non-traditional materials (Readymades)
*Believed in the non-superiority of the artist as creator – no personal link between the creator and the object
*Anti-commercialist – sabotaged the art market
*Fused human imagery with the mechanistic
description of head
-Wooden head of a dummy that would normally be used by a hairdresser to display wigs or a tailor to model hats
-This head has been de-humanised by Hausmann by having various materials attached to it
-In the middle of its forehead is a tape measure
-Balanced on its crown is a collapsible beaker of the sort issued to German soldiers fighting on the Front during WWI
-Also on the forehead is a sign with the number 22 printed on it
-Fastened to the right temple are the mechanical gears of a clock
-As a substitute for the right ear Hausmann has attached a jewellery box containing a printing roller
-On the left side of the head is attached a ruler and number of screws, which originally belonged to a camera
-At the back of the head Hausmann has nailed a worn out purse made of crocodile skin
middle of forehead
-In the middle of its forehead is a tape measure
-Also on the forehead is a sign with the number 22 printed on it
crown of head
Balanced on its crown is a collapsible beaker of the sort issued to German soldiers fighting on the Front during WWI
what is fastened on the right temple
-Fastened to the right temple are the mechanical gears of a clock
what substitutes the right ear
-As a substitute for the right ear Hausmann has attached a jewellery box containing a printing roller
what is attached to the left side of the head
-On the left side of the head is attached a ruler and number of screws, which originally belonged to a camera
what is on the back of the head
-At the back of the head Hausmann has nailed a worn out purse made of crocodile skin
influences of objet trouves
The Mechanical Head is an assemblage of objets trouvés
Objet trouvé: existing objects of natural or manufactured origin, used in or as art
Through his use of common found objects, Hausmann partakes of the iconoclastic (def. iconoclastic = criticising or attacking cherished beliefs or institutions) Dada spirit of Duchamp’s readymades
influence of Duchamp
through use of oject trouves he takes art in the dada spirit of duchamp’s readymades
what was the idea of readymades
used to challenge borgeouis forms of art
readymade = an ordinary mass produced, manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art. Found objects or bought in shop: not made by artist
Artist’s intervention includes naming and exhibiting the work: the readymade thus places emphasis on the creative idea which originally inspired the artist rather than the manual skills used to make a traditional work
Idea developed out of Cubist collage’s use of ready-made, mass produced materials
how does this sculpture critique war
-it captures the atmosphere of Germany in the immediate post-war years - WWI had just ended(At the end of WWI there was social, political and economic chaos and collapse in Germany)
-Like other Dadaists Hausmann felt the war had been pointless and devastating;The founding of Dada had been a direct response to the unprecedented horror and folly of the war
seen in sculpture in:
-the mannequin’s stare feels militaristic - as if we are looking at a soldier standing to attention
- uniformity in the blank and vacant qualities of the face - the number 22 attached to his forehead increases the sense of dehumanised numbered ranks of soldiers
how does it critique capitalism
The wallet made of crocodile skin attached to the back of the head stresses the idea that money controls the mind; with this, Hausmann criticises modern capitalism
how does it display the destructive nature of media
Camera cogs on the left side and printing roller on the right - the idea that destructive and false media are being placed directly into the minds of individuals without filter and protection
how does it portray the loss of human emotion and reliance on reason in light of ww1
The collapsible beaker on the head’s crown is engraved with small heart, the only indication of human emotion here - in other respects this suggests an individual who does not operate emotionally (note the heart is collapsible) but rather only trusts what he can measurably experience using objective equipment
how does it show the destruction of the machine age
Screw on one side of head and nail on other: (possibly reminiscent of Christ’s stigmata?) but also the idea of Frankenstein’s monster, the uneasy relationship between humans and technology going back to the late 18th C and the beginnings of the industrial revolution
Implication is: human beings have been reduced to mindless robots devoid of individual will
what did hausmann say this work represented (in response to war)
According to Hausmann this work represents the “spirit of our age” in that it captures the atmosphere of Germany in the immediate post-war years
what did duchamp say about dada response to war
Marcel Duchamp: “We saw the stupidity of the war. Our movement was another form of pacifist demonstration.”
