Dada and Surrealism: A Comprehensive Guide to Interwar Art Movements

Dada: An International Movement from $1916$ to $1922$

Dada and Surrealism were the dominant art movements in the years between the two world wars. Both movements were born in revolt against the First World War and questioned traditional societal values. Dada originated primarily as a literary manifestation. German writer and poet Hugo Ball established the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich during the First World War as a center for artists and writers sharing a outlook of protest against contemporary society.

The Cabaret Voltaire and Zurich Dada

The Cabaret Voltaire was a hybrid of a nightclub and an art society, founded by Hugo Ball and other associates for artistic and political purposes. The activities at the cabaret were instrumental in the founding of Dada:

Meetings and Happenings: Meetings featured the reading of poems and the creation of paintings using intuition without control.
Simultaneous Performances: During one meeting, $80$ speakers spoke simultaneously on different subjects.
Audience Interaction: During one exhibition, hammers were distributed to the audience with instructions to destroy the artworks.

The Origin and Spread of Dada

The origin of the name "Dada" is subject to different accounts:

One version claims the word was discovered accidentally in a German-French dictionary.
In French, "Dada" means hobbyhorse.
It is also considered the first word of a child.
The name was adopted for its childlike sound, reflecting a search for freedom and a new beginning.

Dadaism spread internationally from Zurich to Cologne, Hanover, New York, and Paris. Several magazines were central to the movement, including:

"Dada" in Zurich.
"Electric Fan" by Max Ernst in Cologne.
"391".

Hugo Ball and the Sound Poem

Hugo Ball performed at the Cabaret Voltaire in costume. A primary example of his work is the sound poem Karawane ( $1917$ ):

jolifanto bambla o falli bambla grossiga m'pfa habla horem giga goramen higo bloiko russula huju hollaka hollala anlogo bung blago bung blago bung bosso fataka schampa wulla wussa lobo hej tatta grem eschige zunbada wulubu ssubudu aluw ssubudu tumba ba- umf kusagauma ba - umf

Influences and Philosophy of Dada

Dada was a protest movement against the First World War, which saw millions killed and led to a profound questioning of human existence. The movement emerged from disillusionment and disgust at the senseless barbarity of the war, which Dadaists believed was started by governments for autocratic and materialistic gains.

Rejection of Logic: Dadaists felt that human logic had led to carnage. They believed the only solution lay in political anarchy (the absence of government and disorder) and placing importance on emotions, the intuitive, and the irrational.
Total Revolution: Max Ernst described Dada as a rebellious upsurge of vital energy and rage resulting from the absurdity of an "imbecilic war." This rage expressed itself through attacks on the foundation of the civilization responsible for the war.
State of Mind: Dada was characterized as a state of mind focused on mocking and shocking the middle class, their good taste, and their moral values. It was a negative movement aimed at destroying all traditions in art.

Media and Art Innovations in Dada

Dada avoided traditional media in painting and sculpture in favor of innovative forms:

Montage and Photomontage: Technically utilized by Hannah Hch. Photomontage involves combining photographs or press reproductions into a new subject to protest social and political issues. Key exponents included John Heartfield and Hannah Hch, as seen in Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Beer-Belly of the Weimar Republic ( $1919$ ).
Assemblage: Utilized by artists like Kurt Schwitters.
The Ready-made: Pioneered by Marcel Duchamp, where manufactured objects are declared art.
Mockery of Tradition: The slogan "Use Rembrandt as an ironing board" exemplifies their disregard for traditional art. Modern art was also mocked, such as in Picabia’s Portrait of Czanne ( $1921$ ), which featured a toy ape.

Major Dada Artists and Works

Hans Arp ( $16$ September $1886$ – $7$ June $1966$ ) Arp used chance to liberate the creative soul. After tearing up a drawing and throwing the pieces on the floor, he found the resulting chance pattern expressive. This led to works like Collage with Squares arranged according to the laws of Chance ( $1916$ ). Arp maintained that everything made by man is art.

Kurt Schwitters ( $20$ June $1887$ – $8$ January $1948$ ) Schwitters developed "Merz" art (named after a letterhead from KomMERZbank) using junk such as tram tickets and discarded wrappings. Notable works include Merz Picture 29A, Picture with Flywheel ( $1920$ ) and the Merzbau, an installation of Cubist-like grottoes filled with found objects that eventually spread over six rooms before being destroyed in the Second World War.

Marcel Duchamp ( $28$ July $1887$ – $2$ October $1968$ ) Duchamp rejected the ruling order in art and the idea of artwork as labor-intensive. Key concepts and works include:

Nude Descending a Staircase ( $1912$ ): Described at the $1913$ Armory show as "an explosion in a shingle factory."
Bicycle Wheel ( $1913$ ) and Bottle Rack ( $1914$ ): Early ready-mades.
Fountain ( $1917$ ): An industrially produced urinal signed "R. Mutt." Duchamp submitted it to The Society of Independent Artists competition (entry fee: $6$ ). The committee objected on moral grounds. He placed it on a plinth, signed it, and declared it art to mock the uniqueness and labor-intensive nature of traditional art.
L.H.O.O.Q. ( $1919$ ): An "assisted ready-made" using a reproduction of the Mona Lisa with an added goatee and mustache. The letters, when read phonetically in French, suggest "she has a hot ass."
The Large Glass ( $1915$ - $23$ ): Formally titled The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even. It incorporated oil paint, lead wire, foil, dust, and rust. It was pronounced complete only after the glass accidentally cracked during transport in $1926$ .

In $1923$ , Duchamp gave up art to devote his life to playing chess.

De Stijl and Neo-Objectivity

De Stijl Founded in $1917$ in Holland by Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. Mondrian defined his art as Neo-Plasticism, based on universal harmony. He simplified forms into horizontal and vertical black lines on a white ground, using only primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and non-colors (black, white). An example is Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow ( $1930$ ).

Neo-Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) A German realist style originating from a $1923$ exhibition in Mannheim. It satirized the corruption and demoralization of post-WWI Germany and the Weimar Republic. Key artists include Max Beckman (The Night, $1919$ ), George Grosz (Pillars of Society, $1926$ ), and Otto Dix (Metropolis, $1928$ ). The movement ended with the rise of the Nazis.

Surrealism: Background and Principles

Surrealism formed under André Breton (‘the pope of Surrealism’), who felt Dada was too absurd and destructive. He published the First Surrealist Manifesto in $1924$ . Surrealism (meaning "beyond or above reality") focused on the subconscious, dreams, and the disinterested play of thought.

Influences and Psychology in Surrealism

Past Artists: Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Fuseli (The Nightmare, $1781$ ), Goya, and Symbolists.
Metaphysical School: Giorgio de Chirico was a forerunner with his depictions of uninhabited, strange cities, such as in Melancholy and Mystery of a Street ( $1914$ ).
Sigmund Freud ( $1856$ - $1939$ ): Freud's psychoanalysis proposed the subconscious represents the majority of the human mind (the "iceberg" theory). Surrealists drew on his themes of sexuality, childhood complexes, and dream interpretation.
C.G. Jung ( $1875$ - $1961$ ): Jung proposed a "collective unconscious" shared by all people. Surrealists believed utilizing this source allowed for universal communication.
Subconscious Themes: Themes included sexuality, violence, and death. Freud's view of sexual fantasies in dreams led to the use of symbols like columns (male) and fruit (female).

Surrealist Techniques and Tendencies

Automatism (Abstract Tendency) Inspired by Freud’s free association. Creativity is automatic, involving hypnotic conditions and doodles without preconceived ideas. Techniques include:

Frottage: Rubbing pencil over paper placed on a textured surface.
Decalcomania: Pressing paint between two sheets of paper and lifting them before the paint dries.
Automatic Handwriting/Drawing: Drawing without a plan and identifying symbols later.

The Dream World (Figurative Tendency) Painting recognizable, realistic scenes in completely illogical situations to create "convulsive beauty." Characteristics include fine brushwork, smooth surfaces, luminous "super-real" colors, and realistic space.

Major Surrealist Artists

Joan Miro ( $1893$ - $1983$ ) Miro used automatism to portray hallucinations, sometimes brought on by hunger. In Carnival of Harlequin ( $1924$ - $25$ ), he created a bazaar of insect-like creatures. He described his process as a free first stage followed by a carefully calculated second stage.

Max Ernst Ernst used decalcomania and frottage. Europe After the Rain ( $1940$ - $42$ ) reflects the desolations of collapsed civilization during the Second World War. The Robing of the Bride ( $1940$ ) and The Elephant Celebes ( $1921$ ) are other significant works.

Salvador Dali ( $1904$ - $1989$ ) A Spanish painter known for eccentric behavior, including giving a lecture with one foot in a bowl of ass’s milk.

The Persistence of Memory ( $1931$ ): A $24 \times 33‐\text{cm}$ oil painting. It features soft, melting watches (alluding to the unreliability of time and decay like "rotten flesh") attracting ants and a fly. The landscape is based on Catalonia.
Other Works: Metamorphosis of Narcissus ( $1937$ ), Lobster Telephone ( $1936$ ), and The Rainy Taxi ( $1938$ ).
Personal Philosophy: Dali called his works "hand-painted dream photographs."

Ren Magritte ( $1898$ - $1967$ ) Belgian artist who challenged perceptions of reality.

Time Transfixed ( $1938$ ): Shows a smoking steam train emerging from a fireplace.
The Treachery of Images ( $1931$ ): A painting of a pipe with the caption "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (This is not a pipe), highlighting that the image is not the object itself.

The Legacy of Surrealism

Surrealism influenced cinema through collaborations between Dali and Luis Buuel:

Un Chien andalou ( $1929$ ): Featured a shocking scene of a razor slicing an eyeball.
l'Age d'or ( $1930$ ): Police were called to clear the cinema during its screening.

Dada's use of chance and irrationality became the core of Surrealism. By $1922$ , Dada ended due to its own absurdity, but it revolutionized Modernism by opening new methods of creating art from junk, chance, and common objects.

Questions & Discussion

Marcel Duchamp: Art Genius or Art Charlatan? What is your opinion about these titles? Write a short essay of about one page in which you substantiate your opinion on Duchamp. Refer to at least two of his works. (Note: Charlatan = fraud, imposter, pretender, con artist).

Dada Exhibition Brochure Task Imagine you are part of the Dada movement in $1920$ . You are asked to make an A $4$ brochure to advertise a Dada exhibition. Include at least three artworks and some Dada statements. Represent the Dada attitude in your choice of colors, typography, and layout, considering photomontage as inspiration.

Analysis Principles of Surrealism Surrealism introduced the dream and the subconscious as sources of creativity. Explain the ways in which this has been incorporated by analyzing the paintings by Yves Tanguy (Mama, Papa is Wounded, $1927$ ) and Max Ernst (The Elephant Celebes, $1921$ ). Refer specifically to influences, expressions of the subconscious, technique/style, and formal elements.