Foundation 2D Project 2 – Rhymes (Research)

Foundation 2D: Project 2 Research on Artist References


 

Hannah HochUntitled-1

Artworks: Cut with the kitchen knifeThe Coquette, Tailor’s Flower, The Bride, Tamer, Da Dandy.

Hannah Hoch was a female artist within the Dadaism in Germany.
[Raoul Hausmann was the artist who influence Hannah Hoch to join the Berlin Dada movement]

Her unique art style was the experiment of many different types of art.
Some examples are ‘Paintings, Photography, Fabric design, Handicraft etc.,
Her art style was known in art history as ‘Photo montage’.

In most of her early artworks, her concepts were based on ‘Women in actual life’.
For examples: Women smoking, wearing skimpy clothing and working.
It seems as if though the artworks convey a strong message of ‘Fighting for gender equality’..
[Because women in her period were discriminated.]
As a result, expressing ‘Feminism’ as a type of expression in arts.

 

da-dandy-19193

Da-Dandy, photomontage, 1919

One of the popular artwork by Hannah Hoch was the Da-Dandy.
‘Dandy’ = ‘A men who cares a lot about this appearances and the clothings he wears’.
As explained earlier, Hannah Hoch fused the idea of ‘Dandy’ and ‘Women’ into ‘Da-Dandy’.
*[Amazing isn’t?]*

In this artwork, the women are seen wearing nice jewelries, fashionable hats, dress and heels this therefore justify the expression of ‘Female Dandies.
In addition, Hannah Hoch seems to invlove Dadaism in this artwork. She mention that the ‘monocle’ was a sign for the Dada which imply so.

 

6

Strange beauty, photomontage, 1929

Another artwork by Hannah Hoch I find interesting is this Fremde Schönheit (Strange Beauty)

The ‘Strange Beauty’ shows a naked women lying on one side of her body with the genitals exposed.
What is ‘Strange’ is that the human head was replaced with a alien head wearing spectacles.
What is even stranger is the hidden message in this artwork.

  • White women = Germans women
  • Naked body = Identity
  • Gesture = Culture

The similar analysis I had with the ‘Da-Dandy’, I seems like Hannah Hoch focus her artwork on ‘Feminism’.

 

My opinion:

I was amazed by the abstract artworks by Hannah Hoch, I really like her works.
Her involvement in the Dada movement have deepen my understanding of a feminist art.
In addition, I like the idea of how each of her wonderful artworks holds a unique meaning and symbolism respectively.

 

Cut with the Kitchen Knife, Hannah Hoch, 1919


Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (El Lissitzky)

Untitled-12jpg

Artworks: G7, The story of the little red square, Postman

El Lissitzky was a Russian artist within the constructivism art movement.

The primary use of his artworks was for political reasons and most served as a Propaganda for Soviet Union in the early 20th Centurymost served as a Propaganda for Soviet Union in the early 20th Century.
El Lissitzky made use of basic elements such as colours and basic geometric shape to convey political statements indirectly.
His artworks were influential and a success to constructivism art movement.

El Lissitzky was known for his ‘Proun’ series of artworks.

‘Proun’

English: Design for the confirmation of the new
Russian: Proekt utverzhdenia novoga

 

el-liss-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge-1919

Beat the whites with the red wedge, El Lissitzky, 1919

One of the popular artwork done by El Lissitzky is the ‘Beat the whites with the red wedge’.

In this constructivism artwork, El Lissitzky demonstrate a type of revolution by using simple geometric shapes to convey a story. For example, he made use of the ‘red colour’ and the penetrating triangle as a representation of the ‘Revolutionary fighters (Red fighters)’.

https://utopiadystopiawwi.wordpress.com/constructivism/el-lissitzky/beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge/

 

List of Artworks by El Lissitzky

http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/3569

 

My opinion:

Similar to Hannah Hoch, I like the idea of them encrypting messages in their artworks. By doing so, it engage the audience.
Furthermore, it is amazing how basic geometric shapes and colours can be incorporated to tell a story. The coexistence of different forms and shapes bring about the uniqueness and meaning in them.


Dada vs Surrealism vs Constructivism

mm

Dada art movement origins: 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland.

Surrealism art movement origins: Founded in Paris in 1924 by André Breton.

Constructivism art movement origins: Russia in 1913.


Chosen Poems.

I find these poems suitable as my project.

  1. *What does the bee do? – Christina Rossetti
  2. The Little Doll – Charles Kingsley

 

What does the bee do? – Christina Rossetti

What does the bee do?
Bring home honey.
And what does Father do?
Bring home money.
And what does Mother do?
Lay out the money.
And what does baby do?
Eat up the honey.

 

The Little Doll – Charles Kingsley

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
Her cheeks were so red and so white; dears,
And her hair was so charmingly curled.

But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day;
And I cried for her more than a week, dears;
But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears;
As I played in the heath one day:
Folks say she is terrible changed, dears,
For her paint is all washed away,
And her arm trodden off by the cows, dears,
And her hair not at least bit curled:
Yet for old sakes’ sake she is still, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world.

The poem exemplifies climax and anti-climax nicely.
The ownhood is expressed even at the loss of outwardly appearance. -Makwana

Sketch Impression:

DSC_0274

High-Resolution Impression

Untitled-1


Conceptualisation

In my case, I believe Hannah Hoch ‘Feminist’ style is most suitable for my theme.
I would like to apply the ‘Photo-montage’ technique into my design, that is combining 2 or more images to form something new.
Although El Lissitzky style does not really works for my concept, it is definitely alright to study the use of ‘expressionism’ isn’t?
Interesting! Let’s get things moving!

 

4 Replies to “Foundation 2D Project 2 – Rhymes (Research)”

  1. Nice video of Hannah Hoch! I shall use that for my own research heheh… Anw i like your research. Think i can really see the effort you put in in internalising your research stuff. I always admire your sincerity in your work and research and its an attitude I wish to achieve for myself. Its very humbling to be your classmate

    1. Hey Hsinwei, that’s very kind of you.
      I believe the class put in a lot of effort in their research too. (=
      It is interesting how every entries are expression of individual ideas and thoughts.
      Overall, I believe everyone did a good job. Awesome!

  2. Hi Eugene! The mind map you made is very useful, I just wanna say THANKS! I think I learned quite a bit from reading your research, *bows down* it is truly enriching and very informative. Thanks thanks thanks! 😀 (Looking forward to more of your posts!)

    1. Hey June, thank you for the comment. (=
      I’ve learnt something extra through your research too! I like how you express your feeling and thoughts about Dada art movement.
      Dada art is kind of humorous, it somehow conveys a strong meaning without showing directly.
      (& It’s kind of scary sometimes..)
      Is this a kind of visual perception? like how we see affect how we think it actually is?
      Hmm.. I wonder,

Leave a Reply