Within this post, I will share my findings and research by going over the general movements of Dadaism and Surrealism as well as the specific artists that contributed and are associated with them.
This post will cover the following content in the order mentioned below:
What is Dadaism?
Short Biography, Association & Works of…
Marcel Duchamp
Hannah Hoch
Hans Arp
What is Surrealism?
Short Biography, Association & Works of…
Salvador Dali
René Magritte
Max Ernst
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{ What is Dadaism?
One interesting thing to note about the word Dada is that it is more of a nonsense word with a literal meaning of ‘hobby horse.’ This term was meant to describe a particular movement that took place during the 20th century (1916 – 1925) in Zurich, Cologne, Berlin, Paris and New York. The Dadaists were disillusioned that useless manslaughter was the consequence of World War I and soon began to reject conventional ways in the representation and exhibition of art as well as rational thoughts. The use of oil and canvas became abandoned. Dadaists became drawn towards ready-mades as forms of art. Readymades are the selection of already manufactured, common place objects taken, selected, and classified as art. The name was established by Marcel Duchamp, a French artist who was a part of the Dadaism movement. Artists of this period would often challenge the relationships between elements such as words and images, with words as a main factor of prominence within their work. Meanings in relation to the works of this movement were often dependent on accident or location.
Ideals regarding this movement originated from activities of a small group of artists and poets that were based in Zurich. A revolutionary set of strategies and philosophies soon became adopted after by different artists worldwide that did not really share a common style. Forms of Dada art came in visual art, performances as well as poetry. The aesthetics of their works usually came in second as opposed to the conveying of the message or idea they attempted to portray. Dadaists surrounded their interest with modernity as they both embraced and critiqued the theme itself — their works are often referenced with subject matters surrounding; technology, newspaper, film and advertisement. One thing to take note about Dada artists was that they were fused with inspiration for experimentation. The Dada movement brought along the innovation of photomontage and collage.
[ Dada Artists ]
Marcel Duchamp
Birth: July 28, 1887 — Blainville, France
Death: October 2, 1968 — Neuilly, France
www.britannica.com/biography/Marcel-Duchamp
[ Short Biography ]
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who became known for breaking down the barrier between what ‘makes up an artwork or is considered one’ and everyday objects. Marcel Duchamp studied at Académie Julian in 1904 – 1905. He worked with figure paintings during the early stages of his career which were inspired by Fauvism, another artistic movement prior to Dadaism, and Matisse; an artist belong to the Fauvism period. Duchamp did not have much of a care for the standards of aesthetics within his works of art which actually allowed him to transition towards his readymades (1913) as he slowly drifted away from painting. The artist can be well associated with the term and concept of readymades even today. These readymades had shocked the public since he challenged the notion of what may be considered art. Duchamp was also rather fond of wordplay within his works, tying his work in similarity to those of the Surrealists. However, the French artist had no intentions of being categorised, and therefore, refused to be tied down to a specific movement. With the mindset of pursuing concept and ideology before anything else, Duchamp is generally labelled as the Father of Conceptual Art. The man refused to follow a conventional artistic path which led him to produce very little work during his career and consequently, his withdrawal from the art world.
[ Works ]
Duchamp is well known for his readymades which are daily conventional objects we use in our everyday lives that the artist takes out of original context and puts them together in whatever way he wishes. He thereby, promotes their status and classify them as art. The artist highly rejected artworks with only one intention; to provide aesthetic beauty and retinal pleasure. Pictured below are some of his most well-known works during his career.
Bicycle Wheel (1913)
(Third version, after lost original of 1913)
1951. Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool, 51 x 25 x 16 1/2″ (129.5 x 63.5 x 41.9 cm)
www.moma.org
“In 1913… I had the happy idea to fasten a bicycle wheel to a kitchen stool and watch it turn.”
– Marcel Duchamp
The Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp was the first of his collection of readymades. This was an example of what the artist did best; repositioning objects in his own arrangement, signing the composition, and calling it art. Duchamp mentioned that the work was an ‘assisted readymade’, meaning that it involved the combination of more than one already mass produced object to form this work of his.
Fountain (1917)
https://www.britannica.com/art/ready-made
Porcelain. replica 1964
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573
‘Fountain’ was another of Marcel Duchamp’s widely known readymades and is often seen as an iconic representative of the 20th century. The concept for ‘Fountain’ was influenced by a discussion between Duchamp, Walter Arensberg (Collector), and Joseph Stella (Artist). The French artist purchased the urinal from a sanitary ware supplier and arranged for it to be submitted under the name of R.Mutt. Duchamp did not sign the work under his own name but instead was influenced by a daily cartoon strip published during his time, ‘Mutt and Jeff.’ The artist claimed to want ‘any old name’ and therefore settled upon R.Mutt. The original urinal was placed with its backing lying against the ground to cover up its position in which the typical usage took place in. Photographs of a 1918 show in Duchamp’s studio has shown the readymade being placed in his doorway in a hanging manner making the loss of the sculpture after a mystery.
Hannah Hoch
Birth: November 1, 1889 — Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
Death: May 31, 1978 — West Berlin, West Germany
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah.htm
[ Short Biography ]
Hannah Hoch was a German artist and the only woman who became a part of the Berlin Dada movement. She was known for her photomontage/collage compositions in which she would often explore perceptions of differing ethnicities and genders. Hoch’s training began in 1912 at the School of Applied Arts in Berlin-Charlottenberg with the study of glass design before it became disrupted for a momentary time due to the outbreak of World War I. After, during 1920, Hoch went back to the school and reenrolled for the study of painting and graphic design (woodcut/linoleum block printing). Soon in 1915, she became associated with Raoul Hausmann, an Austrian artist who belonged to the Berlin Dada group. Hoch then entered as a member of this group and thus began her exploration with non-objective and non-representational works of art. Her medium primarily consisted of photomontages and collages in which she collected from images within newspapers and magazines. To help pay for her tuition fees as well as support herself financially, Hannah Hoch began to work as a part-time employee at a Berlin magazine publishing house, ‘Ullstein Verlag.’ Her position in the company gave her access to an abundance of imagery and text she used within the works she created.
Even though artists such as Picasso and Georges Braque played their part to help elevate collage art into a form of fine art, it was Hoch and the Dadaists that were the pioneer innovators that decided to incorporate photography as the dominant medium of collages. Together, Hannah Hoch and her partner Raoul Hausmann, disoriented cutout photographic imagery while at the same time juxtaposing and overlapping to reflect the consequential effects of post war. They reacted to the confusion and chaos caused, through subversion of all conventional ways of artistic thinking and concepts. Their photomontage works were an initial reaction against the violence and war of World War I and were supposed to portray as anti-art. Having no need for academic artistic training and reliance on only mass produced imagery, collaging was intended to oppose the ongoing German aesthetics of that era. However in the 1920s, photomontage became adapted into the art world and was appreciated by numerous fine art connoisseurs.
[ Works ]
Dada Puppen — Dada Dolls (1916)
These sculptures made by Hoch were small-scaled in size. They were also a suggestion of her knowledge of Dada ideas derived from Zurich rather than the Berlin circle since that was only formed during the year 1917. She was believed to have been influenced by writer Hugo Ball, founder of Dada from Zurich since the costumes dressed upon Hoch’s own sculptural dolls were similar to that of Ball’s costume which he wore at a Dada performance at a Swiss nightclub. It was there that Ball recited poetry while wearing a costume composed of geometric shapes. The costume may possibly be a commentary on feelings toward the developing technology of that era. Technology was both feared and likened since it aided in the progress of areas such as social and economics yet it also posed as a threat to humanity through its use of destructive power.
Dadaists would often portray man as manufactured, mutilated and mechanical as a conveyer of the message that technology was causing humans to become more machine-like. Here, Hoch has used satire within her work to critique elements of culture during that time making her sculptures appear intimidating and absurd.
Heads of State (1918 – 1919/20)
Staatshäupter (Heads of State), 1918-1919, Photomontage.
http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/hannah-hoch-at-whitechapel-gallery/
Here, Hoch introduces the subjects of German president Friedrich Ebert and Minister of Defense, Gustav Noske through the use of a newspaper photograph within her montage. The two men are supposed to appear foolish and out of context with their bathing suits on while at the same time their placement is on a background of iron-on embroidery pattern of flowers and pattern that seem to surround a woman. The imagery is both powerful and comical and is based upon a recent event during that time when the president and minister had placed the Spartacist Rebellion down ruthlessly. In the image, they are seen in some fantasy land, without acknowledging the problems of politics and finance facing Germany and its population during this time period. The patterned background is meant to contrast the roles of both women and men especially the lower wages gained from occupations worked by women. The montage is arranged in this particular manner to show how the two subject matters have been caught within the embroidery at the back demonstrating ridicule as well as the stripping of masculinity. Alongside all these messages, the composition questions values and criticises patriarchy.
Hans Arp
Birth: September 16, 1886 — Strasbourg, Alsace
Death: June 7, 1996 — Berlin, Germany
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-arp-hans.htm
[ Short Biography ]
Hans Arp was a French-German-American artist who specialised with sculpture, painting as well as collaging. He created sculptures out of plaster, stone, bronze and expressed himself in the form of paintings, drawings, collages as well as poems. The approach that Arp went with form was considered organic abstraction and was consistent in manner. The wavy lines within his works demonstrated natural motifs such as plants and body parts while at the same time portraying them as entire abstraction. Dominant themes within his works are transformation, growth, fecundity and metamorphosis.
Born in Strasbourg, Arp was considered an enemy by Germany when the war broke out in the year 1914 which resulted in him having to had take refuge in Switzerland the year after. Arp contributed to Zurich Dada from the outset and had talent within areas of literature and visual arts just like many of his other Dadaist artists. Hans collaborated with many other artists after leaving schools ranging from Strasbourg School of Arts and Crafts, the Weimar Academy of Art, the Académie Julian in Paris since he was not satisfied with the instructions and teachings conducted at the respective places. Arp created works that were non-representational and his abstracted artworks represented organic forms. He was also one of the first artists to allow chance as part of his work and to create randomness. The artist was also transitional between movements since he was one of the founders of Dadaism yet he became an active participant in Surrealism.
[ Works ]
Collage with Squares Arranged According to the Laws of Chance (1916-1917)
1917. Torn-and-pasted paper and colored paper on colored paper
19 1/8 x 13 5/8″ (48.5 x 34.6 cm)
This is one of Hans Arp’s earliest ‘chance collages’ displaying his stylistic technique of simply tearing paper into rough shapes, dropping them onto a large piece of paper and sticking them down wherever they happen to land. However, chances that the paper would fall so harmoniously spaced and in line with one another would probably be little to none. This was one of the first attempts in the history of art where chance was used within an artwork and also demonstrated the chaos Dadaists were trying to portray within their works as a reaction to the World War.
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{ What is Surrealism?
Surrealism was inspired by the psychological studies by Freud and Jung and artists within this movement sought to create works that had typical themes surrounding dreams, subconscious thoughts and unspoken communication. It all began in 1924 with the theories of Andre Breton, particularly when he drafted Surrealist Manifesto and declared Surrealism as ‘pure psychic automatism’ which later affected methodology and movements such as Abstract Expressionism. The Surrealist movement went into two directions consequently; one being abstract traditions of biomorphic (organic shapes are stressed and hint at natural forms) and suggestive forms while the other; tradition of using reality based subjects and putting them together in an odd manner. Surrealism challenges and fascinates through sources of mysticism, psychology and symbolism. Artworks within this movement are not to be clearly understood and are meant to puzzle you.
[ Surrealism Artists ]
Salvador Dali
Birth: May 11, 1904 — Figueras, Catalonia, Spain
Death: January 23, 1989 — Figueras, Catalonia, Spain
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-dali-salvador.htm
[ Short Biography ]
Salvador Dali was a Spanish artist who specialised in painting, sculpture, filmmaking, printmaking and performance art. He is one of the most versatile artists of the 20th century and is probably the most famous Surrealist artist. Dali attempts to create his artworks based on his dreams and hallucinations which till today are iconic, achieving fame during his lifetime and even after his death. Reflecting with psychoanalytical theories during his time, Dali majorly portrays themes within his work with elements such as eroticism, death, and decay. He created his own system of tapping the unconscious which he labelled as ‘paranoiac critical.’ This is where one can conjure delusion while maintaining sanity. The method has since been applied by his contemporaries whom are mostly Surrealists to mediums that vary from cinema, poetry to fashion.
[ Works ]
The Persistence of Memory (1931)
1931. Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13″ (24.1 x 33 cm)
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/1168-2
The theme portrayed in one of Dali’s most iconic paintings, shown above, is time. Subject matters included within the oil painting range from ants, melting clocks as well as what is believed to be a self portrait of the artist himself. He attempts to introduce confusion to the audience and shifting their mindsets away from reality. Dali has placed conventional subjects in an unfamiliar context or placed them in an unfamiliar way within the painting.
Lobster Telephone (1936)
Téléphone – Homard. Steel, plaster, rubber, resin and paper.
Object: 178 x 330 x 178 mm.
http://www.tate.org.uk/
Lobster Telephone is one of the most famous sculptural work of Dali’s. It is also famously attributed to Surrealism as it is one of the most surrealist objects created in history. Salvador Dali combines the use of a telephone and a large sharp clawed lobster together. The telephone is an object meant to be held close to one’s ear yet in this case, the lobster’s genitalia is placed along the mouth piece area. Here, Dali has placed two items with one another that are not usually associated with one another. The artist often use telephones and lobsters to imply sexual connotations in a playful manner. This sculpture is an example of this.
René Magritte
Birth: November 21, 1898 — Lessines, Belgium
Death: August 15, 1967 — Brussels, Belgium
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-magritte-rene.htm
[ Short Biography ]
Rene Magritte is a Belgian artist who has supported himself throughout his life by working as a commercial artist while producing advertisements as well as book designs. Magritte had a middle class existence and his earlier commercial artistic portion of his life helped influence his route into the fine arts. His life as a middle classed man is typically symbolised by a bowler-hatted man that is used consistently within his artworks which would often be repeated in a pattern of sorts. Conceptual artists have since been inspired by his use of text and imagery while painters from the 1980s admired the provocative kitsch seen in his work which were done in the later stages of his life.
Magritte worked with a rather illustrative style that showed the message he was trying to portray in a clear method. Repetition is a stronghold in Magritte’s work and he is believed to have been inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis with repetition being a sign of trauma. His works are clear and simple which also provoke unsettling thoughts without hiding any of the mystery with elements in his artwork being strange.
[Works]
Golconda (1953)
René Magritte, Golconda, 1953, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
www.news.bbc.co.uk
Golconda is an example of many of Magritte’s work dealing with repetition. The scene depicted shows nearly identical men topped and dressed in the same dark overcoats and bowler hats. They appear to be floating in midair against a backdrop of blue sky and buildings, with no signs of motion involved. The painting is believed to be a reflection of the suburban environment in which Magritte lived in and the dressing of the men is similar to that of his own.
The Lovers II (1928)
1928. Oil on canvas, 21 3/8 x 28 7/8″ (54 x 73.4 cm)
https://www.moma.org
This oil painting of Magritte’s does not demonstrate repetition but instead, portrays a common theme that the artist generally surrounds his work with. Here, Magritte wanted to send the message across about frustrated desires. The fabric appears to act as a barrier, thereby opposing the intimacy between the couple. Instead of embracing one another, the fabric leads them toward the path of isolation and frustration.
Enshrouded faces are seen as a common motif in the artist’s works due to a traumatic incident he witnessed as a child. When Magritte was just at the age of 14, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself. Her body was fished out of the water with the wet nightgown she was wearing wrapped around her face.
Max Ernst
Birth: April 2, 1891 — Bruhl, Germany
Death: April 1, 1976 — Paris, France
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-ernst-max.htm
[ Short Biography ]
Max Ernst was an innovative artist that mocked social conventions and looked for dreamlike imagery within his unconscious states which he used within his works. Ernst was a soldier in World War I and the effects of the war had traumatised him greatly. Since then, he had been highly critical of western culture. His vision of the modern world then became irrational, with this idea becoming the basis of his artworks. The artist worked both in Dadaism and Surrealism and his humour showed greatly within his works. He wanted to locate his own creativity and therefore attempted to portray his primal emotions and personal traumas, them eventually becoming the subject of his collages and paintings. Max Ernst painted from his subconscious, known as automatic painting, which later influenced Abstract Expressionists.
[ Works ]
Here Everything Is Still Floating (1920)
Here Everything Is Still Floating (Hier ist noch alles in der Schwebe). 1920.
Cut and pasted printed paper and pencil on printed paper on card stock.
6 1/2 x 8 1/4″ (16.5 x 21 cm)
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/35971
This work was composed through 3 photomechanical reproductions. Here Everything Is Floating demonstrates an environment that is upended with an image of an aerial chemical bomb attack Ernst had cut from a book with content surrounding German military aviation. Alongside this, he glued a bisected beetle as well as a cross section of a fish. The image demonstrates an intimidating pairing of technology and biology in a single composition.
Celebes (1921)
Oil paint on canvas. Support: 1254 x 1079 mm
frame: 1397 x 1210 x 102 mm
http://www.tate.org.uk
In this work, Ernst displays his common technique of reusing found images, removing or even adding something else to the original in order to create a new reality. The work title is derived from a childish German rhyme that goes: ‘The elephant from Celebes has sticky, yellow bottom grease…’ Ernst has used strange, peculiar combinations of conventional subject matters to create an unconventional world. The weird-like combinations suggest a dream-like state with the Freudian technique of free association in use.
To check out my final work for Project 2 Forrest Gump, click here !