Dadaism

What is Dadaism

a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values.

Tristan Tzara

* the father of Dadaism
* original birth name: Samuel Rosenstock
* He promoted the nihilism of Dada through his Dada manifesto of 1918

Jean (Hans) Arp

* his work relied solely on chance
* recruited many Germans to the movement
* referred to as Hans to Germans and Arp to the French

Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance,

1916, Jean (Hans) Arp

* Hans wanted to show the primordial desire to create that had been lost through classicism
* He was showing the immediacy of art
* this was a protest against the institution of art since the creation was completely subverted
* proves nothing could completely be controlled

Two Heads, Jean (Hans) Arp, 1927

* was created by throwing a cord onto a piece of the board and then gluing them down
* this acts upon the element of chance which appears twice first when the work was created and when the viewer is interpreting the work
* this questions the definition of art by obscuring the image of fine art being expensive into mundane materials being used

Marcel Duchamp

* promoted Dadaism in America
* seen as the father of conceptual art

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, Readymade glazed sanitary china with black paint

• Duchamp used a ready-made to prove that the art institution was elitist

• The pseudonym refers to the plumbing company, Mutt, with the initial, R, referring to the name Richard, in French slang this meant ‘money-bags’ which plays on the binaries of low vs. high art

• it made a statement about how the art world was male-dominated at the time

• it also further questions, ownership and worthiness

Marcel Duchamp, LHOOQ, 1919, Postcard print with pencil

* he used this work to question traditional art and mass consumption
* he questioned how many times after reprinting a work is it still considered original
* it served as comic relief during such intense turmoil
* he used it to ridicule the art world and itspretentiouss underbelly

Marcel Duchamp, Paris Air, 1919, Glass Ampoule Readymade

* questioned what could actually be called art since the air was used as well as a ready-made
* Duchamp proved that anything with an artist’s signature can be considered art
* this also commented that the art world relied heavily on France to continue being the growth centre for art
* this piece also commented on the gas warfare which occurred in WW1 since the air was invisible yet could cost them their whole lives

Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1951, Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool

* any person, who claims to be an artist, can turn anything into an artwork by declaring it to be art
* this interactive piece paved the way for conceptual art since viewers could now experience and not only observe the artwork thus becoming ground-breaking

Duchamp, Box in Valise, 1941, mixed media

* this is composed of mini versions of Duchamp’s artworks like a mini art gallery
* he was irreverently commenting on what and what should not be put in a gallery by making his very own
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Duchamp, Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even, 1915-1923, oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire, and dust on two glass panels

* it is an allegorical piece that communicates the scientific advance and physiological drives
* the shooting at the nets and the bride raising attention to her suitors is linked to the scientific way of sexual desire and the act of seduction
* this artwork was agreed to be intellectual art
* With this work, Duchamp completely bamboozled art critics. The element of chance was whole-heartedly accepted as a means of creating

Man Ray

* originally name: Emmanuel Radnitzky
* discovered a lot for the movement through experiments

Man Ray, Les Larmes (Tears), 1930, Gelatin silver print

* an artwork made to represent when Lee Millar, his ex-lover, left him to go to New York
* the work is a dramatic expression of falsified emotion due to the encrusted lashes and fake tear drops
* illusion and the unknown realm of the unconscious were explored
* this false reality captures the archetypal maiden

Man Ray, Ingres’ Violin, 1924, Gelatin silver print

* ‘Ingres” refers to someone who is multi-talented but only ends up exploring one of those talents
* the model is objectified, eroticised and orientalised just like Ingres’ nudes were
* commented on mass production

Man Ray, Cadeau (The Gift), 1921, Steel iron with 14 nails

* another readymade which becomes a violent statement
* it is a refusal to conformity due to the iron lacking its ability to iron
* this work was erotic as Man Ray used it to iron an eighteen-year-olds dress with it to observe her body as she danced
* he was either destabilizing the female stereotype of a housewife or sexualizing females by imagining their clothes shredded

Man Ray, Indestructible Object, 1923, Metronome, Paper Clip and Photo Clipping

* the artwork reminds of the constant reminder of an ex-lover
* his ex-lover’s eye was attached to a metronome
* the title suggests he was so haunted by this memory he tried to destroy it but could not
* this piece suggested concept art and interactive art

Man Ray, Portrait of Rrose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp), 1920, Silver Gelatin Print

* This artwork is a collaboration between Duchamp and Ray
* This androgyny comments on societal expectations of maintaining clear distinction between binaries such as male and female

Hannah Höch

* she was the only female Dadaist
* Throughout her career she was met with resistance, resulting from both the war and her gender

Hannah Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (Cut with a Kitchen Knife), 1919, Photomontage

* she commented on how the culture of the time was fragmented during the rising political unrest in Germany
* she placed a map of Europe where women could vote and on top was a picture of her face as a signature
* This was a way for Höch to reclaim some power that was taken from her due to her being a female
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* despite the male Dadaist’s verbal claims to fight for gender equality, their actions proved quite the opposite

Hannah Höch, Half Caste, 1924, Photomontage

* Höch is trying to criticize the manner in which women are defined in a patriarchal society
* it shows the lady of colour was silenced not only because she was a woman but because she was of two different races