Historical Impact Of Dada

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:

Overall, the ideologies discussed within the articles Written In Blood: 20th Century Art by Stephanie Dudek and Estrangement As A Motif In Modern Painting by John Adkins Richardson address similarities and differences from various standpoints. Modernistic ideologies towards social, cultural and technological changes of the 20th century are demonstrated in both articles. The article by Stephanie Dudek emphasizes on the employment of radical and transgressive values by modern artists within their work to target cultural, and artistic principles that have persisted over many generations leading to a transformation within the subject of art (Dudek 105). Furthermore, modern art set out to obtain new visions of reality as witnessed within the Cubist

Dada was an art movement described by Dada poet Tristan Tzara as “not the beginnings of art, but of disgust.” The movement came into existence through a small group of artists and poets in Zurich who eventually wrote a set of strategies and philosophies aiming to revolutionise visual art, performance and poetry, as well as revolutionary ideas about the politics and social values. Dada came into existence amid the first world war. For the artists the war was evidence that the break down of social structures, corrupt nationalist politics, and unquestioning conformity of culture and thought led to such violence. (Moma.org, n.d.)

During the twenty years after World War One, three major art movements appeared: dadaism, functionalism, and surrealism. Dadaism, a movement which conveyed erratic and random movements that were supposed to contradict human behavior, was a response to the anxiety of those who didn’t know how to react because of all of the strange and despairing behavior in the world. Because of these conveyed ideas, dadaism promoted outrageous and random behavior. Functionalism, a movement which tried to explore the functions and purpose of things and nature, was an attempt to find the purpose of humans in the dark times following the war. Surrealism, a movement which painted wild dreams and complex symbols, tried to spread the idea of hope from the current scary world. Through surrealism, imagination and hope was brought out through paintings that featured crazy illusions and impossible dreams. Overall, these artistic movements tried to answer and embody the general sense of anxiety felt by

The advent of the Great War however led to the changing of many these attitudes; the fall in prominence of Art Nouveau and the rise of avant-garde movements such as De Stijl, Dutch Rationalism, the Amsterdam School, the Bauhaus, Dada and Russian Constructivism are clear signs of that.

Dada, known for it’s chaotic nature, indirect protesting and iconoclasm also evolved into a political movement. Rejection of artistic mastery, defying authority, overprinting, and purposeful mistakes, where all a part of what Tristain Tzara and his contemporaries were trying to succeed. Cubism, Vorticism, Orphism, Purism, and Futurism also came about because of World War I. Heavily influenced by Cubism and it’s shattered glass appearance Futurism was the most politically mind of these five movements. Somewhat akin to Dada in it’s chaotic nature Futurist’s, however, were staunchly pro war and were looking for ways to bring Italy into the present times. Purism, on the other hand, took the collage look of synthetic Cubism and modern abstract style and made

Similarly in rejection to the current reality, the Dada movement protested logic and reason. Established by Tristan Tzara who wrote a Manifesto for the movement stating the Dada is, “a protest with it’s whole being engaged in destructive action.” Ironically, the reality the Dadaists was protesting against was World War 1, but their response to the war increased violence. It was the disgust of the false, good manners and incomprehensible logic of the politicians and those in power that the Dadaists criticized. The rage of the war merely justified their destructive spontaneity. Relating to the surrealists, they believed the simplest act consists of going out into the streets, revolver in hand and firing at random into the crowd as often as possible. Surrealist Louis Aragon encouraged such responses saying, “I have always placed the spirit of revolt above any politics.” Although the surrealists emerged with a stronger focus

Anti-everything, Dadaists conceived all things as arbitrary. Wielding “irrational attitudes,” they “attacked traditional artistic values” and “provoked conservative complacency with outrageous statements and actions” (Dadaism). Not only that, but they “also launched a full scale assault on the art world which they saw as part of the system” that needed to be overturned (Dadaism). Typically done in the form of idiosyncratic collages, they fully embraced individuality and artistic

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.

While so many Modernists rejected the tools and medium of “fine art” to make art of “everyday crap” using advertisements, packaging, newspapers, cardboard, commodities and rubbish, there may be several reasons for this, including opposition to consumerism, opposition to the previous movements and desire to draw distinctions, and the lack of resources and the need to make one’s living. As stated in the Dada Manifesto, “When a writer or artist is praised by the newspapers, it is a proof of the intelligibility of his work: wretched lining of a coat for public use; tatters

In this essay, I will be discussing the two movements ‘Dada’ and ‘Futurism’, with reference to their conceptual contexts and representative plays, there will also be analysis to how these two movements contrast to realism/ naturalism. Links will also be made to the plays, with the use of scholarly sources to back up the argument and then coming to a final conclusion at the end of the essay.

Each artist of the Dada era had a new way of expressing Freud?s ideas. They also felt that art was a powerful means of self-revelation, and that the images came from ones subconscious mind had a truth of its own. As Marcel Duchamp mocked the Mona Lisa by drawing a Padilla 3 mustache on her, stated that the painting was a lewd message set by the conventional way of thinking. Since the Dada artist did not believe in western culture this made sense, because people only want believe what is told to them, instead of what is true. The Dada movement marked a meeting of people to have ?noise concerts? where they recited poems in a free association verse. In these poetry readings the artist perceived how they felt about the world. As World War I began the Dadaist perceived it as a world gone mad. Not only did they express their work in unconventional ways; they used the subconscious as a way of making their views true. Although the Dada era was short lived it influenced and questioned the traditional concepts of the western world. These techniques set an agenda for a new trial by error art form of this same era. The spirit of Freud in the Dadaist era never really died, it is shown today as ?Pop art? or sometimes known as neo-Dada art forms. Also this revolution of thinking and art paved the way for the Surrealist movement. The Surrealist movement of the 1920?s through 1930?s captivated the world with its bizarre way of thinking. Just as the Dadaist used

During the Cubist era, another form of art was created, namely that of Dadaism(1916-1924), which later on became a pillar to the construction of the birth of Surrealism. When looking closely at both of these movements, both Dada and Surrealism were artistic, literary and intellectual movements of the early 20th century and were a great contribution to, later on, define Modernism.

At the turn of the century Paris was one of the capitals of culture and art to the outside world. However, the truth of the matter was that this taboo-ridden society was being run by an aristocracy that was repressing the arts. Naturally, when World War 1 broke out, the suppressed French society finally had a release and a rebellion against order arose. WWI specifically affected the theatre of French and it’s aftermath. From the ashes of war the avant-garde theatre grew and styles such as Dadaism and Surrealism were born. It was both the climate of culture before the war and the devastation of the war that lead to the outbreak of avant-garde theatre in France.

Modernism is a movement in art that desires to push the boundaries of the past art movements. The artists of this movement seek to have the viewer examine the art and seek different ways to view their pieces. Although most of Marcel Duchamp’s working career was in the Dadaism art movement his work, inspired by the avant-garde, pushed through to inspire the Modernism movement. In “Marcel Duchamp’s Art and the Geography of Modern Paris” by Dr. James Housefield, he examines the works of Duchamp and the significance they