The Idea Of Anti Art

The assassination of Austria-Hungarian’s Archuduke Franz Ferdinand is one of the biggest events leading up to World War 1, and arguably the event that started the war. He was a somewhat unpopular public figure, due to his controversial suggestions in terms of Austria-Hungary’s governing. Despite this, and the likelihood of him being targeted, he still accepted his invitation to Bosnia, an Austrian province, taking his wife Sophia to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary.

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

Launched from New York, it was the forerunner for American Pop Art. The art world at this time, was controlled by strict expectations and policies, of Abstract Expressionism. This class of art focused on deep emotion, Psychiatrics, folklore, with some muse coming from the desolation of the war. This art provoked very serious, sensitive and esteemed emotions in its viewers: there was no joking around. As always, ridged boundaries and rules are meant to be broken. An uprising broke out in the art scene; artists challenged emotionally contemplative pieces with routine life. (Wolf 2015) They teased at the seriousness of Abstract Expressionism by taking objects of low regard, and blowing their importance out of proportion, by size and color. “Neo-Dada artists often encouraged viewers to use[…]critical thinking generated by contradictions, absurd juxtapositions, coded narratives, and other mixed signals[...]”(Wolf 2015). Leading into the Dada Movement, which supported the same principles of ridiculing capitalism and cultural commodities. This new faction took a more playful approach, by teasing, using humor, high contrast, and emphasis on a larger

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

On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, visited Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital. They had been advised multiple times that it was a dangerous place to go. Bosnia bordered with Serbia, Serb nationalists had been operating there for a long time. As they were driving through the streets of Sarajevo, a bomb was thrown, ruthlessly at their car. Ferdinand managed to deflect the bomb so it exploded far enough away to leave them both unharmed.

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

The year of 1914 marked the beginning of World War I and the commencement of a tumultuous era for politics, society and art. Amongst the considerable number of people negatively affected by the dreadfulness of the war, many of them found different ways of expressing their repugnance towards the horrific routes that humanity had taken. The Dada movement in particular began not only as a reaction against the war but also as a commentary on the social circumstances that lead to it. This essay reflects on the context that allowed the art movement to flourish and the circumstances that lead to its decline. The rise of machinery, mass production, fascism and overall disillusionment with society provided an ideal environment for radical movements to emerge.

Then on June 28th 1914 the Archduke of Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on an official visit to Sarajevo. This assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the perfect thing to set off the chain reaction that lead to the war in 1914.

The angst of living in a post apocalyptic world, was felt all over the globe after World War II. It was evident in almost every facet of life, especially in literature, the theater, and also the art world. There was the rise of the anti-hero, the “Theatre of the Absurd”, and artist like Jackson Pollock. Pollock, along with his contemporaries, helped to usher in a new way of expressing one's self artistically. Before and after the war, there was a large influx of writers, poets, artists, and many others who fled Europe, in order to escape Nazi Germany. Some of these fleeing artists and their styles, came to influence Pollock and many other American artists. Pollock challenged the conventional standards of representation in art, and help to solidify a new movement called Abstract Expressionism. Although many people do not believe his paintings constitute what art is supposed to be, the Abstract Expressionism movement, along with his new painting style, and his confrontation of traditional painting conventions, are the very reasons his work should be considered to be of the arts.

Dada was an anti-art movement formed in 1914 towards the end of World War I in Zurich (Tate Museum n.d.). The reason for the emergence of the movement was to comprehend the events of the War. The war’s frightful events had immense impact on the world and left society questioning how it would recover. Dada was anti-war and was also against the hierarchy and social structure that was dividing people at the time (Gavroche 2017). The aim of dada artists was to redefine the norms of art and to create new means to express modern and contemporary ideas. As Francis Picabia wrote in his Cannibal Manifesto, “Dada feels nothing, it is nothing, nothing, nothing. It is like your hopes, nothing. Like your paradise nothing. Like your artist nothing. Like your religion nothing” (Picabia 1920) He is essentially stating that dada is both a movement which rejects conventional ideologies and a fragment of society. Dada artists did not want to be labelled as a movement as it would appear that they were part of art. However, it was a movement of art that was driven by

On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-hungry and his wife Sophie, were assassinated while on their way to watch the maneuvers of the Austrian troops in Bosnia. While on the way there, the first assassination attempted started with Franz Ferdinand seeing a black object flying at him that turned out to be a hand grenade, but he hits it away and it lands in the car behind him injuring the

Dada is often referred to as “anti-art” and the Dada movement is often called an “anti-movement.” As noted by Alexandrian, the Dadaists seemed to be interested in rejecting everything that existed in art and culture at the time. In Alexandrian’s words, “it was an anti-movement which opposed not only all the

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

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

Despite the fact that Dada was an impactful movement, it paled in comparison to art movements such as Modernism and Renaissance because during the early 20th century the world was too focused on war to appreciate art. The Dada movement went against Modern Art in a big way, so much in fact that the reason Dada is called ‘anti-art’ is because it was the opposite of modern art, which was considered the norm for art. While modernism promoted order and the natural way the world worked, Dada represented the disarray of society and how usual conventions could change in a second.