Part 3: Research and Exercise - Photomontage

Hannah Hoch is considered as a pioneer of photomontage although during her career she struggled to get recognition even from those who allegedly advocated the women rights. She was German born Dada artist, lone woman among other Berlin group of Dadaists which consisted strictly from men artists. Although there were a few more women who should have been part of this group, however they have never been officially acclaimed and never gained a credibility for their work.

Hannah Hoch managed to do this against all obstacles due to her remarkable talent, intelligence and strong attitude which is notable on a first sight when I look at her photo. It is obvious that this rebellious woman rejected all social standards. She refused to be one more female slave so she vigorously fought to prove that she, or any other woman, can be at least as good as any man. And she proved it with her artwork.

Disappointed over the hypocrisy she encountered with her male group of Dada artist who allegedly fought for female rights but in reality they disapproved it just as everybody else, she responded in her manner, creating the artwork called “The strong guys”.

She created photomontage, presenting a man vigorously raising hand for protest but  under the arm are spikes which are ready to run through the head of a woman. Hoch portrayed this new generation of modern woman as face which is half male and half female as she probably thought that those women have the same freedom as men did. Part of male silhouette is in orange tones which remind me of fire and she probably wanted to express his energy and how he was allegedly determined to fight. I like the colors she chose. Darker yellow which is nice blended with yellow-green, brown and fiery orange, create unity and visual dynamic for its contrasts and gradation.

She had often used  her artwork to express her feelings and attitudes toward the political circumstances, creating messages so strong that she managed to completely turn public opinion. This especially referred to “Dada Panorama” collage where she ironically presented men responsible for a double murder in bathing suites with fig leaves on their bellies. I like the composition and use of dark colors with ochre. She managed to create a sense of  real space and all elements stands in such a harmony.

When it comes to photomontage “Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch”, I am amazed how she synchronized so much different elements into one unity and how good is dynamic she had made. She had limited color palette just like with two previous artwork which I have described. She had used different tones of yellow contrasting them with dark, which along with blue create good  dynamic unity.  

When I first saw her artwork “Grotesque” I didn’t understand the point of this imagery. It looked odd and bizarre to me, but that was because I skipped the background story; a story that stands behind her involvement in suffragette movement. She presented two pairs of women legs and placed on the first pair beautiful woman’s head and on the second pair she put a part of  head of an ugly man. I think she actually wanted to present disagreement  with social circumstances where women are always expected to be beautiful from head to toe while men didn’t have to bother with that. It is interesting fact that things actually didn’t change a lot after almost 100 years. There are lot of women who are ready to risk their lives in order to stay young and beautiful, so unfortunately Hannah Hoch didn’t manage to change it.

John Heartfield was one of the most  influential Dada artist regarding political engagement artwork. He expressed his despise toward Adolf Hitler and Nazism through his legendary photomontages. I like his satirical approach which is in the same time simple but also cuts to the bone.

This photomontage shows in common way how much he had respect for German ideas of that time.

In this artwork Heartfield portrayed Adolf Hitler as a figure who was only driven by money and it was in the background of whole Nazi idea. He figuratively presented this by portraying Hitler with insides made of gold bullion where he said that Hitler swallows gold but spouts junk. This is very impressive artwork.

Another amazing photomontage  pointed toward German regime, where Heartfield presented hyena wearing hat and iron cross, walking across corps.

source: http://www.artknowledgenews.com/klaus_staeck_and_john_heartfield.html

http://weimarart.blogspot.com/2010/08/hannah-hoch-brushflurlets-and-beer.html
http://offtheorange.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/john-heartfield-more-things-of-interest-from-the-dada-movement-berlin/