Raoul Hausmann, (Austrian, 1886-1971) The spirit of our time, assemblage, 33cm high, 1921.

This sculpture is an assemblage: its not created from modelled clay, nor carved, nor cast, but is a conglomeration of readymade, mass produced objects. All sorts of weird materials – tape measure; slide rule; type blocks; the internal mechanism of a clock, all stuck onto some sort of mannequin or store model. The actual media itself ends up making a comment, similarly to the Cubist collage elements. What kind of world is the artist representing here?

The use of mannequins, models or dummies was a feature of Dada, and Surrealism, an art movement which grew out of Dada in Paris.

CURIOUS VISIONS 2: DADA and later….REVIEW OF THE BODY – SESSION 3

Dada erupted during World War I. It ran roughly 1915-1923 but its influence has continued to contemporary art. It travelled to different cities and countries, all with different ‘flavours’ and concerns. It was characterised by a sense of confusion; mayhem & contradiction, which was how they saw the contemporary world.

It challenged the Western Modernist tradition of the importance of reason; the progress of technology; the optimism associated with science and knowledge. Sometimes Dada created mischievous art, and sometimes much more serious, politically based art.

Max Ernst, Little machine constructed by Minimax Dadamax in person, pencil & ink frottage, watercolour, gouache, 1919-20

Dada lacked a single recognisable style like, say, Cubism. It used many

different art forms Including collage; photomontage; performance;

assemblage; painting and drawing; puppetry; graffiti; use of typography;

poetry and writing.Dada was a reaction against the War. It

associated war with a corrupt, ruined society and believed that art, as it

stood, was a part of that corruption. Dada pronounced itself to be ‘anti-art’, which really meant anti- what had gone

before.

Use of typography in new and puzzling ways: Kurt Schwitters & Theo von Doesburg, Small Dada Soiree, lithograph, 1923. This was an poster advertising a Dada art event.

Because of this skepticism about reason and logic, some Dadaists were interested in interacting with the laws of chance, e.g. Hans ( or Jean) Arp. The implication of this was that the artwork had some sort of ‘life of its own’. This questioned the traditional notion of the artist as skilled, talented genius or individual.

Hans Arp, Collage with squares arranged according to the laws of chance, collage, 48 x 35cm, 1916-17

This is a different approach from Picasso and Braque’s collages, which were carefully drafted and planned in a manner much more like traditionalartworks (even if they looked different.)

Hans Arp, Automatic drawing, ink on paper, 42 x 54cm, c. 1917

In Berlin after WWI there was much hardship, food shortages and unrest. There was a lot of corruption; wounded and broken people were on the streets. Berlin Dada was very politically motivated.Many Dadaists were associated with the new Communist party in Germany, in the interests of social justice. Photomontage was a popular medium for political comment.

Otto Dix (German, 1891-1969) Card-playing war cripples, 1920, oil on canvas with Photomontage and collage, 110 x 87cm

John Heartfield, The meaning of the Hitler salute: little man asks for big money, photomontage, magazine cover, 1932.

John Heartfield )German, 1891–1968) & Rudolf Schlichter (German, 1890–1955) Prussian Archangel, 1920, papier-mâché; wire mesh; palm grass, hemp, horse hair; uniform cut from field gray material, World War I field cap, boots, and shoulder lapels; 180 cm high.

Artists making political comments like this putthemselves in great danger. Heartfield had to flee for his life in the1930s.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) Les Demoiselles D’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) 1907, oil on canvas, 244 x 234 cm

Some more review of The Body : Cubes and Collages….

Georges Braque (French, 1882 – 1963) Big Nude, 1907-8, oil on canvas, 140 x 101cm

Marcel Duchamp (France 1887 – 1968) Nude descending a staircase No. 2, 1912, oil on canvas, 147 x 89cm

Duchamp’s work was influenced by Cubist ideas. He was also inspired by the work of Eadweard Muybridge, who did many studies of humans and animals in motion in the late 19th cent (before the invention of the movie camera.) Each image is from a still camera, a whole bunch of them firing in sequence. These images allowed people to see clearly for the first time how we move in space. It also proved for the first time that a horse at full gallop actually has all 4 feet off the ground at some stage.

The hierarchy of traditional materials was questioned in Postmodern art. Barbara Kruger (US, b.1945),

Untitled (you invest in the divinity of the masterpiece, 1982, photocopy, 182 X 115cm

Barbara Kruger Questions, 1991, Photographic silkscreen/vinyl 168 x 236 cm

Jill Orr (Aust. n.d.) Bleeding trees 1, performance, 1979

Guerrilla Girls, Public Service Announcement poster, mid 1980s, New York.