AVI 4M1
World War 1; “The Great War”; 1914 - 1918
• an entire generation was being slaughtered in a
war that need not have been fought.
• over 13 million killed; 60
million casualties in total
• European civilization,
with all its polite
surface refinements,
proved to be brutal,
cruel and suicidal
underneath.
Not everyone supported the war:
• Conscientious objectors and pacifists refused to
fight. Many served in non-violent roles in the army.
• others fled to avoid the draft to neutral states . . .
. . . like Switzerland.
Zurich, Switzerland
Young avant garde
poets, writers, actors,
dancers, musicians and
visual artists began to
congregate in Zurich.
Emmy Hennings,
Hugo Ball and
Tristan Tzara
They were Nihilists: they thought the only hope for society was the
destruction of old institutions and systems and the creation of new
ones. They wanted to reinvent culture from the ground up.
They wanted to be in
harmony with nature:
“Nature is neither beautiful nor ugly,
neither good nor bad.
It is fantastic, monstrous,
and infinitely unrestrained.
Nature wants to exist and develop, that is all.
Being in harmony with nature is the same as
being in harmony with madness.”
- Hugo Ball
Jean Arp, Configuration, 1916
They would recite nonsense sound poetry in nonsensical costumes:
Hugo Ball reciting poetry, 1916
How natural!
Nature makes
sounds without
literal meaning. . .
They would make nonsensical artworks using chance:
How natural!
Nature makes
designs by
chance. . .
Jean Arp, Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, 1916–17
Why ‘DADA’?
It’s one of first words we utter as children?
It’s slang for rocking horse in Switzerland?
Meanwhile in New York City …
Very similar things were going on .
Meanwhile in New York City …
Marcel Duchamp
Man Ray
a smart, irreverent
group of artists were
redefining what art
could be.
Francis Picabia
Duchamp coined the
term, “readymade”: an
object not created by
an artist, but one that
becomes an artwork
because of its context
and because the artist
labels it as such.
It’s an artwork because
I’m an artist and I say
it’s an artwork.
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917
Marcel Duchamp, In Advance of a Broken Arm, 1915
Marcel Duchamp, Bottle Rack, 1914
Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1913
Read aloud, the title sounds like
“Elle a chaud au cul”.
Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q., 1919
Man Ray, Object to be Destroyed, 1923
(original destroyed)
Man Ray, Cadeau, 1921
Man Ray is best
remembered as a pioneering
Modernist photographer.
Man Ray, Le Violon d’Ingres, 1924
Man Ray, Marquise Casati, 1922
Man Ray, Rayograph, c. 1921
Francis Picabia, Parade Amoureuse, 1917
Francis Picabia, Balance, 1919
Marcel Duchamp,
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even,
1915 - 1923
Meanwhile in Germany …
very similar things were going on too!
Hannah Hoch, The Beautiful Girl, 1919-20
Raul Hausmann, Tatlin at Home, 1920
Raul Hausmann, Spirit of Our Time, 1919
Kurt Schwitters, Merz compositions, 1923 - 32
Kurt Schwitters, Merzbau 1924-37
First International Dada Fair, Berlin, 1920; the last hurrah.
Dadaism had no
common philosophy.
Dadaists were
individualists,
anarchists, nihilists
and libertarians.
Consequently, it
was short-lived,
lasting only 4 or 5
years
Kurt Schwitters, Merz, 1920
Dada ‘art’ is
not really Art.
Dadaists hated Art.
They thought
all Art should be
destroyed.
Kurt Schwitters, Merz, 1920
Why bother to study DADA then?
Because of Dadaism’s influence on later art
movements:
-their use of found objects
/readymades;
Anything could now be
considered art given its
context.
Robert Rauschenberg, Odalisk, 1955-58
Why bother to study DADA then?
Because of Dadaism’s influence on later art
movements:
- their emphasis on ideas instead of visual qualities;
Gary Kosuth, One and Three
Chairs, 1965
Why bother to study DADA then?
Because of Dadaism’s influence on later art
movements:
- their use of chance as a
legitimate method of art
production;
Joan Miro, Hand Catching a Bird
Why bother to study DADA then?
Because of Dadaism’s influence on later art
movements:
- they paved the way for Surrealism:
Rene Magritte, Ceci n’est pas une pipe, 1926
Fin.