Hannah Hoch

Dadism

BiographyBorn as Anna Therese Johanne Hoch, as the oldest of five children

● “A girl should get married and forget about art”

up close and personal

Anna to Hannah1912- Joined the school of Applied Arts

1914- Outbreak of WWI; joined the Red Cross

1915- Returned to Berlin to study Graphic Arts at the School of the Royal Museum of Applied Arts under Emil Orlik

Became friends with artist Kurt Schwitters who added the “H”

1918- Wrote a manifesto to encourage women to find the “spirit” of their generation

Discovered the concept of photomontage

1918- ‘Heads of State’

1919- ‘Cut with a Kitchen Knife’

‘Dada-Review’

1927- ‘Puppet of Balasmine’

Heads Of State

Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany

Dada Review

The Puppet of Balsamine

Artistic Process

Photomontage● Generating an original image from fragments

that were cut, layered, altered, and/or glued together.○ Example: Cutting a photo from a

magazine● Hannah Hoch mainly used photographs and

illustrations from magazines and newspapers, and some images of herself.

Das schöne Mädchen [The Beautiful Girl], 1920

● Cut with a kitchen knife○ Newspapers ○ Photographs○ Reflects the chaos of WW1

Germany

Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany

Process● Using photomontage as a means to symbolism● Collects imagery of political and public figures of

controversy ● Dadaism style of mockery of materialistic,

nationalistic attitudes○ Not a random process of placement

● Making found images of pop culture into a higher forms of art○ Comments on culture as a whole

● Does things like placing politician’s heads on women's bodies ○ Castration

● Focus on generating a critique on the culture of the time period

● Hoch “signature” her work with a small self portrait

History Behind the movement

Basics of Dadaism● Philosophical art movement of 20th

Century.

● Was started by a group of European artists that protested against World War I through their art. They felt the war was pointless.

Birth of Dadaism● Started Europe during World War 1

○ Artists seeked refuge in Zurich, Switzerland. Geneva and Zurich eventually became the place where the main artists lived.

● Dada means “hobby horse” in French but may just have been babbled syllables.

● Publicly confronted nationalism, rationalism or anything that might contribute to the nonsense war.

● Became artistic rebels who made “non-art”

Ideas Behind Dada● Key Ideas: Spontaneity, Negation, and

Absurdity

● Spontaneity:● Going against the system, art

only worthwhile if spontaneous and made purely from artist.

● Negation: ○ Wanted to rid of art

establishment by demoralization. Wanted to rid of meaning in life and mankind.

● Absurd: showed everything was paradoxical

Everything has meaning but nothing does

Art Styles● Photomontages: Art Collages consisted

of many materials.○ New forms of art using older

forms● Made mild obscenity: humor, puns,

everyday objects changed into art.

● Critics revulsed, Dadaists liked that

● Spread from Zurich to the rest Europe and New York City.

● Dada dissolved itself in 1920’s ironically as mainstream artists were starting to give it consideration.

Sources"Dada Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. Accessed September 05, 2018. https://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm.

Posen, Alex. "Hannah Hoch and Collage." The Creative Hours. March 08, 2016. Accessed September 04, 2018. http://thecreativehours.com/creative-exercise-hannah-hoch-and-collage/.

"Hannah Höch's Life and Legacy." The Art Story. Accessed September 05, 2018. https://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah-life-and-legacy.htm.

Esaak, Shelley. "What Is Dada?" ThoughtCo. August 18, 2018. Accessed September 05, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-dada-182380

Juliana. "Hannah Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany, 1919-20." Flickr. January 08, 2009. Accessed September 05, 2018. https://www.flickr.com/photos/32535532@N07/3179940950/in/photostream/

Sources Pt. 2● "The Puppet Balsamine, 1927 by Hannah Hoch." My Favorite Arts. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://theartstack.com/artist/hannah-hoch/puppet-balsamine-1927.● "Hannah Höch Most Important Art | TheArtStory." The Art Story. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah-artworks.htm#pnt_5.● "Hannah Höch Most Important Art | TheArtStory." The Art Story. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah-artworks.htm#pnt_5.● "Dada-Review." Wikipedia. August 26, 2018. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada-Review.● "Dada-Review." Wikipedia. August 26, 2018. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada-Review.● "Dada-Review." Wikipedia. August 26, 2018. Accessed September 05, 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada-Review.