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
