"Es ist nicht Dada Unsinn ist - aber das Wesen unserer Zeit, dass Unsinn ist."

"It’s not Dada that is nonsense--but the essence of our age that is nonsense."

-The Dadaists

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

February 7, 1933
Photomontage and Weimar Germany.
            Four years ago, I had my first one person exhibit in Hagues. This was a new experience for me. It was in fact, a very enjoyable time as I got the chance to share my artwork as the sole female artist in the Berlin Dada Berlin. If you did not get the opportunity to see my new collages, I will certainly post them for you.
            It is probably obvious by now that most of my works are photomontages. The term “photomontage” is the process in which a photograph is created by the cutting and joining of other photographs. The result piece is also referred to as a photomontage. The idea photomontages have dated back to the late 1850s, but have only reached their heights in popularity during World War I.
            We, The Berlin Dada movement are one of the first “pioneers” as some have called us, of photomontage. Most of our works by Grosz, Hausmann, Baader, Heartfield, and Huelsenbeck, are all montages. Photomontage is our basic form of modern art that we use to express our beliefs. Being a woman, however, differentiated my montages because my ideas geared more toward women’s issues. In the early years of photomontage, I took photos from magazines like Biz, for whom I worked for and pieced them together.  I was able to convey different messages through my works which set me apart from other Berlin Dadaists. I often experimented with new photos and create a range of montages that would express my lifelong occupation with equality among the genders and the connection between the sexes.
            In 1930, I moved back to Berlin with Til Brugman and was exhibited in the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung and the Berlin Photomontage exhibition. Back home, the Weimar Republic still controlled Germany, but it was obvious that its inability to deal with Germany’s problems left a gap for the emergence of a new regime. Despite the lack of satisfaction with Weimar Germany, the republic allowed the country to be one of the leading European centers for the modern arts. By this year, photomontage had become a regular feature in the modern arts and some of my works were finally being recognized. Current day, I am now 44 years old and I do have other exhibitions in a few months. They will be held in America and the Brussels. There are a few montages that I have recently added to my works and I will be sure to upload them!

Schnitt mit dem Küchenmesser Dada durch die letzte Weimarer Bierbauch Kulturepoche von Deutschland
   “Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada
through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany,” 1919.
The Cut with the Kitchen Knife
is one of my more popular photomontages. I created this in the early years of
my career, but just recently it has had a wider audience. In the montage, I involved
almost every aspect of the early Weimar Germany. I made a political, military,
and cultural visual that illustrated Dadaism in the new society. Communism had
embraced the Dadaist while Weimar Germany remained anti-dada.


Marlene, 1930
 Indische Tanzerin  “Indian Female Dancer,” 1930

 

Dompteuse
“Tamar," 1930
Tamar
was a montage that I enjoyed constructing because I was able to combine the
feminine body with masculine arms, portraying equality in the genders, but also
confusion geared toward whom may be superior.
Deutsches
Mädchan
“German Girl,” 1930.



  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 

 

Liebe
        “Love," 1926.       
    Die Braut
“The Bride,” 1933.








 

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