Art : Dada, A Creative Arts Movement

Dada artists sought to move a far away from tradition and rationalism as possible and break every rule that traditionalism enforced. They were fiercely anti-war and saw traditionalism and rationality as one of the main causes of WWI. In an effort to attack reason and rationality, artist often didn’t plan, but rather relied on chance. They allowed their works to come naturally without any predetermined idea of the final product. Artists, often, created collages and assemblages which rejected traditional elements of intention and control. Images were taken from newspapers and magazines and distorted in a way to critique the violence of the world and those in power. Photomontage is a technique used a lot in Dadaism art. Photomontage is a type of collage in which photographs are pieced together into a single composition. Hannah Höch was a prominent female artist with the Dadaism movement in Germany after the war. Her photomontage, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany, made in 1919 is a perfect example of this antiwar and violence position, by tearing down the powerful. She includes images from the media of powerful world and military leaders, manipulating them in ways that strips them of their masculinity and criticizes their role in

German Expressionism is a kind of art that is supposed to make you feel something. When you look at a painting such as “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1863-1944), you ask yourself what kind of emotions does this painting give you. A group of early 20th century German artists used the term “expressionism” to desribe the way they produced art. The title later turned into “German Expressionism”. This art movement was prominent during 1905-1925. In German it is known as “Die Brucke” and “Der Blaue Reiter”. Unlike Impressionism, its goals were not to reproduce the impression by the surrounding world, but to express the artists feelings on the surrounding world. Expressionism comes from the route word “expression” which

Jackson Pollock was a legendary, novel, abstract expressionist who has created numerous paintings through his drip-style, action painting technique (Goodnough, 2012). Theosophical influence arose from Phillip Guston and Thomas Hart Benton, while in the early stages of the artist’s life. Muralists, such as Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera were also admired and studied by Pollock. He was captivated by the unorthodox techniques of David Alfaro Siqueiros which contributed to the abstract style of Jackson Pollock (Solomon, 1987).

Impactful across the globe, both Dada and Surrealism were artistic movements created in the early 20th century that were significant in redefining modern art today. The Dada movement came about in 1916 through the performance of Hugo Ball’s sound poem “Karawane” at the Cabaret Voltaire that he opened with his partner, nightclub singer Emmy Hennings, in Zurich, Switzerland. The poem made absolutely no sense, purposely, and it didn’t have to. Ball would also dress in wild costumes for his performances as seen below:

During his early years in the profession he was often panned as being vulgar and pornographic. But then as more abstract movements took hold of the industry he quickly gained fame and popularity in places as far and as varied as Russia, America, Britain, France and even some of northern Africa. In his early years he would use more classical styles but as he grew as a person he would reach into styles such as fauvism and abstract. His mediums would grow to encompass painting, sculpting and paper crafts. Throughout his life he was varied but his lasting impression is definite, the abstract art world was forever changed because of him.

Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland (“Dada,” sec 1). Dadaism was derived as a result of World War I and the nationalism that many people believe had led to war. This time period was influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and Expressionism. It was “widely diverse” period of time, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting and collage (“Dada,” sec 1). Dadaism was known for its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes. It had an influence on artists in other cities, including Berlin, Hanover, New York, and Cologne, all of which went to create their own groups. Dadaism was the first conceptual art movement where the focus of the artists was not on the

Dadaism came into the world to confuse all the peers that look upon the work of art each person made to express themselves, this can be for emotion, reaction, love or maybe just because they want to confuse everyone. It all began in 1915, the movement instantly caught fire and spread practically everywhere, no matter where you looked there was some sort of DADA to be seen. Sometimes you didn’t even know it! The artist found inside of this essay will be: Max Ernst, Hannah Hoch and finally Johannes Baader.

Arnason and Mansfield (2012) explore another German expressionist movement known as “Der Blaue Reiter” or The Blue Rider. While The Bridge were the first manifestation of expressionism in Germany they were not the most significant. This belonged to Der Blaue Reiter. Led by one of the great personalities of moden art, Vasily Kandinsky. (p.l.) Vasily Kandinsky was another artist eventually got seized by the Nazi’s in the seizing party of 16,000 pieces of art. Arnason and Mansfield (2012) explain more about Kandinsky. One of the signature things that Kandinsky did was explore a revolutionary idea about non-objective or abstract painting. That means painting without literal subject matter. A painting that does not take its form from the observed world. In 1914 World War I forced Kandinsky to return to Russia, and shortly afterwards a new phase of his career began. This was not unusual for art in the time period of World War I. Looking at the art style of Der Blaue Reiter up to the year 1914, We can see that the individuals involved were not held together by common stylistic principles but rather constituted a loose association of young artist who were enthusiastic about new experiments an united in their oppositions. Besides the personal friendships, Kandinsky was the one who gave the group cohesion and

During the years before World War I, European countries were involved in an educational, psychological, and social upheaval. Communism was on the rise and great thinkers like Sigmund Freud provided theories that led everyday citizens into the psyche. European society was unstable, as well as the artistic foundations that were weaved into the fabric of European society. The introduction of new ideas such as Cubism and atonal music gave way to even more radical approaches to art. Radicals with nihilistic notions who occupied the extremes of political and social views led way to a new type of artist. These artists criticized the deeply rooted concepts of art and even attacked the idea of art itself. These new artists appealed to the irrational

Dada was an artistic and literary movement, this arose as a reaction to World War one. Many citizens believed that Dada was actually the cause of World War one, this movement likes to take the form of ‘anti-art’. Therefore, how you can claim everything is art but in reality, nothing is art. For example, take the painting ‘Fountain’ by a Dadaist painter Marcel Duchamp it is a readymade painting of an unused urinal. Which is basically implying that he rejected art and thought that we should focus on the artist 's idea more rather than it being crafted. Therefore, using a urinal and labelling it as ‘art’, get’s Duchamp’s point across that a work of art should be the artists idea instead of it being crafted. When looking at Dadaism by Tristan Tzara, there were some interesting quotes. For example, “Like everything in life, Dada is useless. Dada is without pretension, as life should be.” (Tzara, 1918). This quote intrigues me, as Tzara is stating that all art is useless and that Dada is pretension and that is how life should be. This can be used as an example of how Dadaism was inspired by

In 1916, artists such as Hugo Ball and his wife Emmy Hennings, along with other influential artists, provided performances and discussions of art in Zurich at the Cabaret Voltaire, named for the 18th century French philosopher. The performances were used for artistic and political purposes. During these performances, artists expressed their disgust with the War and what caused it. These artists and objectors, along with their radical ideas, became associated with the movement and label of Dadaist. The name “Dada” came about in an unconventional way. It is believed to have originated by selecting a word out of a French/German dictionary. “To Ball, it fit.’ Dada is ‘yes, yes’ in Rumanian, ‘rocking horse’ and ‘hobby horse’ in French,” he noted in his diary. “For Germans it is a sign of foolish naiveté, joy in procreation, and preoccupation with the baby carriage”(Smithsonian).

What is Freud’s unconscious theory and how is it applied in the art work of Dada/ surrealist artists?

What is Dadaism? According to artinthepicture.com, Dadaism is an art movement from the post World War 1 era (/www.artinthepicture.com). Dadaism was founded by an author named Hugo Ball in 1916 (www.tate.org.uk). Dadaism is more than paintings and drawings. Dadaism can be anything from visual arts, literature, and theatrical performances (www.artinthepicture.com). I like Dadaism because it is art that makes people think about the question what is art in a way that other art styles do not. The point of Dada is to confuse the person looking at the art. The three Dada artists that stick out to me the most are Marcel Duchamp, Theo Van Doesburg, and Francis Picabia.

In the 20th century, there were many art movements that influenced the way we produce art and design to this very day. Along with the movements, there were several artists that contributed to making these movements great. During the first World War, as a reaction to the chaos and turmoil, arose a movement called Dada. The movement started in 1916 in Zürich, Switzerland and ended in 1924 (“Dada Movement, Artists and Major Works.”). In 1922, Tristan Tarza wrote a piece called “Lecture on Dada”. It stated that “Nothing is more delightful than to confuse and upset people”. He believed that, “like everything in life, Dada is useless” (Tarza). This phrase really encapsulates what Dada was and what it stood for. There is no record of where the

Dada is a word. It’s nothing more than a an articulation of sounds; it isn’t meant to mean an actual, tangible thing. As said by Hugo Ball in the 1916 edition of the Dada Manifesto, Dada is to be simply described as ‘An International word. Just a word, and the word a movement. Very easy to understand.” More formally, however, Dada was an artistic movement that surfaced out of the need to express during World War I. It encompassed different art forms like dance, poetry, visual art, music, as well as politics. It was more of an anarchist, anti-establishment manifesto rather than an art style or movement. Dada’s destructive tendencies towards mainstream hierarchies caused a unification among people who wanted nothing more than to be able to express themselves freely during a time of war.