“I
don't want words that other people have invented. All the words are other
people's inventions. I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and
consonants too, matching the rhythm and all my own.”
-Hugo Ball
While reading “Dada
Manifesto” I really had no idea what the guy was saying, nothing was really
making sense to me. Dada isn’t supposed to really make sense, a word with no
meaning. That’s exactly what this reading was to me until this quote. The
author is saying that he wants to create things that are his own and make sense
to him. Others may not have a clue of what he’s saying or doing but it will all
make sense to him because it is his creation. That’s the beauty of the dada
movement, it really has no limits as you can do whatever you please, it may
make no sense to many but as long as you know what it means its fine. I agree
with this quote and everything made sense to me after reading it. This quote
made me look at things from the author’s point of view and it helped me
understand where he was coming from.
John Heartfield
John Heartfield (June 19, 1891 – April 26 1968) was
a photomontage artist who used his work to criticize the nationalism and the
anti-British sentiment prevalent in Germany during World War I.
Heartfield played a huge role in the Dada movement, as
in 1918 he joined the Berlin dada group and the communist party of Germany. He was
very active in the Dada movement as he organized the first international Dada
fair in Berlin in 1920. Heartfield used photomontage as a form of political and
artistic expression of protest, working for two communist publications; the
daily Die Rote Fahne and the weekly Arbeiter-illustrierte-Zeitung who published
Heartfield’s best work.
Police Commissioner Zorgiebel (1929) - This piece
shows Heartfield cutting the throat of Police Commissioner Zorgiebel who was a
supporter of the Nazi Party. This work very clearly illustrates Heartfield’s
feelings towards Zorgiebel; as he disliked him and what he stood for. This
artwork looks like a picture of the two was cut out and put together.
As in the Middle Ages...So in the Third Reich (1934) – What I took from this piece was Heartfield taking a piece of art of a human laying what seems to be dead on a wheel and replaced the wheel with the swastika as a way of showing all the lives that Hitler and his army were taking. By the title of the art piece it shows that Heartfield is showing just like people were being killed in the middle ages they were being killed during Hitler’s reign.
Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold
and Spouts Junk (1932) – This was my favorite piece of all. In this piece you
see Hitler roaring as this intimidating figure but when you look at his stomach
area it shows an x-ray and you see gold. This picture is making fun of Hitler saying
that he is nothing special that he is really being backed up and sponsored by
the rich industrialist who didn’t want Germany voting for a communist party. I see
this picture as something that would be on a poster, Heartfield probably got
that face of Hitler from a previously taken picture and added the x-ray
gold-filled stomach to it.
I like your pictures and it is very interesting in how it shows the hatred that the German felt towards Hitler and the Nazi party.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures does depict revolt against miltary leaders and political figures. One can see the hatred this artist has nationalism and communism Hitler and others from the Nazi party encoutage.
ReplyDeleteBased on the art created by John Heartfield I would have to say that the was brave man to make this political statement toward the goverment . At this time when the Nazi reign believe that built the courage to express different view were often violently killed!! I admire the Dada Movement and its key player for being different and most importantly taking a stand for what they felt is right.
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