The Art Movement : Dada As An Artistic Movement

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:

Dada was an artistic and literary movement that grew out of dissatisfaction with traditional social values and conventional artistic practices during World War I. Dada artists were disillusioned by the social values that led to the war and sought to expose accepted and often repressive conventions of order and logic by shocking people into self-awareness. Marcel Duchamp was one of the first to participate in this movement. He is known for his satirical or humorous content and the use of accompanying text. Duchamp began to grow disappointed with “retinal” art though, and soon stopped painting on canvases altogether. He then moved out of the already existing boundaries of art into was is now called conceptual art. His monumental work is known today as The Bride Bare by Her Bachleors, Even, or The Large Glass. Duchamp worked on this piece for eight years, until he abandoned it in what he referred to as a “definitively unfinished” state. This piece of work includes humor, random chance, pessimism, and anti-art; these four elements are often found in Dada art.

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

The art movement that occurred before World War II and that began as a way of protest was the Dada movement. Dadaism was born in Zurich, Switzerland – more specifically in the heart of the night club the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, founded by leading Dada artist Hugo Ball. Dadaism was an anti-war movement that provided criticism of both capitalist and European culture, creating what was essentially nonsensical art to respond as a way of pitying society and its newfound obsession with war. An early example of artwork from the Dada movement was by one of the defining artists of the movement – Rectangles Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, a paper collage made in 1916 by Jean (Hans) Arp. Dada artists like Arp thought that pure chance itself was an unseen force, and played on the idea on the nonsense that could happen because of this chance. The nonsense and absurdity that chance could create was then comparable to the Dada artist’s views on war. The lack of control that came with the technique differed from tradition of the artist making all the decisions, yet again proving its obscurity. This specific collage of

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.

Progression is defined as the process of developing or moving gradually towards a more advanced state. The 1970s was certainly a time of progression and change in many different areas, namely in art and architecture. New developments in the areas of art and architecture positively impacted the 70s, along with future generations.

The investigation will evaluate to what extent did World War 1 influence the artists of the Dada movement? The investigation will look at primary sources by artists themselves, as well as secondary sources that may evaluate the artists and comment on any influences to the creation of Dadaism and the motives of artists. To be able to determine the extent to which World War 1 influenced the artists of the Dada movement, multiple influences will be looked at and examined to gage the appropriate influence. Given the Dada movement primarily occurred in America and parts of Europe, no sources outside of these areas will be used. Personal accounts and

the Dada movement, because while few dadaist had direct contact with battlefields in WWI, the majority of the dadaist were impacted by the social and economic crisis that forced artists to move to Switzerland and rely on each other to form the Dada movement; the artists also rebel against WWI and nationalism through creating and sharing non-conventional art in the Cabaret Voltaire.

age to New York’s thriving art scene by her mother. She went to the American Artists school in 1938 and met and married her husband, William de Kooning, who was also a well-known painter in the Abstract Expressionist movement. According to the The Art Story, “Elaine’s work was figurative and representational, at least to some degree, and her canvasses were rarely purely abstract.” (The Art

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

“The modernist’ admiration for primitivism led to Dada, the most unusual art movement of the twentieth century.” (Experience Humanities, pg 581) The idea of Dada is to show the problems in society but disrupting the system. This was in particularly done to show how WWI had devalued art. Dada artist did a lot to disrupt the system like “Hurl gobs of spit in the faces of the bourgeoisie. They staged exhibits in public lavatories, planned meetings in cemeteries, and arranged lectures where the speakers were drowned out by a bell” (Experience Humanities pg

Another of these movements that quickly followed was Futurism this started in 1909 in Italy. Futurists aspired for a new world order and they hoped to achieve this through the dismantling of the status quo. Their aims were the destruction of museums and libraries and the glorification of machinery, speed and violence they celebrated and promoted the new age of industry and supported the war, hoping this would help to carve the pathway to the new world they craved ’we wish to glorify war, the only hygiene of the world.’ Understandably due to their beliefs many of the artists and people involved with this group signed up quickly for the war their work aimed to evoke a range of feelings and sensation not simply what the eye could see. Their work aimed to bring to mind the heat, violence and colour of the modern world, it was the visual realisation of dynamism, of speed and ferocity represented by the vivid colours and the integration of objects and figures with their backgrounds. Understandably it was easy to see why the artists found appeal in the war and on the front lines the way they saw the world was laid out in perfect vibrant and brutal clarity for everyone to see. The movement took it’s inspiration from Cubism and would later

Dadaism is an art style defined as “a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political, and cultural values of the time.” (Artyfactory). Pieces made in this style went against almost all of the previously written rules of art, which earned it the title of ‘anti-art’. Dada was presented in many ways, the most well-known being collages made on paper [Fig 1]. Another popular presentation was photography, which was a relatively new concept at the time. These photographs turned ordinary things into art by showcasing the abstractness of ordinary things as seen through a lens. One of the most well-known examples of Dada photography is Fountaine by Marcel Duchamp [Fig. 2]. Technology was also a new concept that Dada-creating artists used to their advantage. Film and radio broadcasting were used as mediums, one

Dada is the artistic and literary movement that emerged during World War I. Dada was a revolt against the culture and social convention of which people started to question the validity after witnessing the brutality of World War I. Dada artists or writers no longer believed that their work needs to be picturesque and flawless. Whereas the traditional artists and writers considered that aesthetic and perfection of their work is primary, as Hugo Ball wrote, “For us, art is not an end in itself,” for Dada artists and writers, the aesthetic of their work was not as important as the idea itself. Confronting the established traditions of art or literature, Dada became the first major anti-art/literature movement. Apart from not meeting the

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 Cabaret Voltaire became a hub for Dadaism and many artists would come together for performances, many of which were meant to ridicule the massacre, propaganda and insanity of World War I. Independent art groups linked by shared interests in rebellion of the war were created afterwards in large cities such as New York, Berlin, and Paris. These art groups were not connected by the same visual art style, rather by their rejection of what was ideal at the time, stale artistic representation, and accepted opinions of what was rational and the progress of society. They rejected both nationalist and capitalist values because they believed that they were the catalysts of the war. Dadaists used unorthodox techniques, off-the-wall performances and insane provocations to promote self-awareness within society. Dada was anarchy within the art world, with values that rejected what was aesthetic, rational, and ideal. Significant contributors such as Marcel Duchamp disrupted the art world with his readymades, ordinary objects transformed into artistic statement pieces. One of the most controversial pieces Duchamp ever