copyright 2000
HEAR a quote by Hannah Hoch, an early Dadaist
What is Dada?
Dada originated in Switzerland in 1916 as a reaction to World War I. It was started by a group of artists who wanted to break the traditional boundaries of distinct art forms. This symbolized the movement as a whole, as the artists were attempting to protest war, greed and the corrupt powers that existed. An original Dadaists Richard Huelsenbeck said, “Dada is the sun. Dada is the egg. Dada is the Police of the Police.” The artists felt that Dada expressed the concept of supreme egoism, in which, laws seem to disintegrate. A majority of Heartfield’s work was dedicated to the anti-nazi movement, and took a satirical approach to protesting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.
The artwork consisted of poetry, paintings, essays, advertisements, collages, photomontages, leaflets and combinations of multiple art forms. Dada influenced almost every artistic principle of our time. Present day “avant-garde” is rooted in Dada, as well as most of modern advertising. Protests in the US during the 1960s simulate those of the Dadaists in Zurich, Berlin and Paris during and after World War II. The International Dada Archive attempts to relate the idea of the Dada movement:Indeed, the Dadaists were not content to make art. They wanted to affect all aspects of Western civilization, to take part in the revolutionary changes which were the inevitable result of the chaos of the first World War. They were not interested in writing books and painting pictures which a public would admire in an uninvolved manner; rather, they aimed to provoke the public into reacting to their activities: to the Dadaists, a violently negative reaction was better than a passive acceptance.----By: Timothy Shipe
Who influenced Heartfield?
John Heartfield played a major role in the Dada Movement, however, he learned techniques and styles from many other artists who expressed their political ideas through art. Influenced mostly by the early Dadaists, he adapted their style to portray his art. Below are some of Heartfield's colleagues and other people who effected his art.
Main page |
The Gallery |
Heartfield's Successors |
The Dada Movement |
 |
Dada Manifesto & Speech
The Dada Archive
Art for @ Change
Dada Art
Dada Literature
The Dada List