Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Dada: Anti Art and Anti War


Occasionally, I'll buy a small book on an art movement and carry it around in my purse to read when I have a few spare minutes. Of late, I've been reading about Dada because of the recent trend of mixed media and collage. Dada art looked familiar but I quickly learned although Dada artists used collage, the movement was alot more than collage.

Above is a photo of some of the more well known artists. They look like they're having a good time, huh? Dada was an anti-war movement and arose out of the chaos of World War 1. I've participated in remembering a war that happened when my father was a small child and not understanding the horrors of it. But the Dadaists did and influenced Modern Art along the way.

Collage, Photo-Collage, painting, writing - all were a part of the anti-art of Dada. It was protest art and was designed to look radically different than any of the art that had come before.

Below is a photomontage entitled "Pretty Maiden" by Hannah Hoch. Photomontage, which according to Wikipedia is "the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs."



We're used to seeing this kind of photo montage now but in the early 1900's, no one had ever seen anything like it. It was jarring and went against the expectations for art. It is a protest of the war, of the co-opting of art and all it stood for. Quite a statement at the time. Modern warfare and a senseless war had changed the art world.

I love the look of Dada and respect what it stood for. I created my own protest art with the "Big Mouth" prototype beads below that fit the concept of protest art but the beads I have on the workbench now don't fit the Dada style.



Since it's not Dada, I'm on to explore Surrealism.

Have you created a piece of art in the style of Dada? or another major art movement? Share and you may win free beads!

(Photo Links and Credits: Photo of the artists , Pretty Maiden by Hannah Hoch

4 comments:

rosebud101 said...

I love mixed media. I want to explore Da-da's work more. I have a feeling I will find inspiration there.

Just A Tish said...

This is awesome! you have my interest now, i have to read more about this dada that you speak of.

sharon said...

Cindy, i don't think i've conciously
created anything pertaining to a movement, but in all art, it's all been done somewhere and in some form, and we have all been influenced by it, especially if you've been formally schooled in art. I will say that after following your blog for a while, you have me making a mental note to myself to go upstairs and find my art history book from college days(eons ago!) and start refreshing myself, in fact i think i'll keep it right next to my beading table!! I like your take on the history of art as possibly influencing the jewelry that i make!

Diana Ferreira said...

Ciny, Think your for your frequent inspirational blog entries!

I could not have coined it better than Sharon ...

A few years ago I purchased a book on Khoi San art. During the following years I have looked at it many times, still looking for that bead that is hidden inside the Khoi art.

With my current project really taking too much time, I will only be able to go back to my little book end of April hopefully ... righ now I feel like a factory worker, running between the garage where I slipcast my ceramics, and my studio.