berlin dada artists created a variation on collage called merzbau.
berlin dada artists created a variation on collage called merzbau.
berlin dada artists created a variation on collage called?
merzbau
dada as a movement was inherently political in nature. dada artists often used political satires to address the issues of the time. they attempted to push art to the limits of humanity and to convey the chaos in post-war (world war i, which did not yet have this title) germany. "many of höch's overtly political photomontages caricatured the pretended socialism of the new republic and linked female liberation with leftist political revolution" (lavin). perhaps höch's most well known piece "cut with the kitchen knife dada through the beer-belly of the weimar republic" symbolizes her cutting through the patriarchal society. the piece is a direct criticism of the failed attempt at democracy imposed by the weimar republic. "cut with the kitchen knife" is "an explosive agglomeration of cut-up images, bang in the middle of the most well-known photograph of the seminal first international dada fair in 1920" (hudson). this photomontage is an excellent example of a piece that combines these three central themes in höch's works: androgyny, the "new woman" and political discourse. it combines images of political leaders with sports stars, mechanized images of the city, and dada artists.
hannah höch
though not a direct participant in berlin dada's activities, schwitters employed dadaist ideas in his work, used the word itself on the cover of "an anna blume", and would later give dada recitals throughout europe on the subject with theo van doesburg, tristan tzara, hans arp and raoul hausmann. in many ways his work was more in tune with zürich dada's championing of performance and abstract art than berlin dada's agit-prop approach, and indeed examples of his work were published in the last zürich dada publication, "der zeltweg", november 1919, alongside the work of arp and sophie tauber. whilst his work was far less political than key figures in berlin dada, such as george grosz and john heartfield, he would remain close friends with various members, including hannah höch and raoul hausmann, for the rest of his career.
kurt schwitters