Dada (Dadaism)
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Period: c. 1916 – 1924 CE Region: Originated Zurich (Switzerland); key centers in Berlin, Cologne, Hanover, Paris, New York.
Overview & Key Characteristics
Dada erupted amidst the chaos of World War I, originating in neutral Zurich around 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire, a gathering place for exiled artists and writers horrified by the slaughter and the nationalist, rationalist culture they believed caused it. More an attitude and a protest than a unified style, Dada was vehemently anti-war, anti-bourgeois, and fundamentally anti-art, at least in the traditional sense. It embraced irrationality, chance, absurdity, intuition, and nihilistic humor as weapons against the perceived bankrupt logic and aesthetics of the established order. Dadaists sought to shock, provoke, and dismantle conventions through diverse means, including performance (sound poetry, manifestos), visual arts (collage, photomontage, assemblage using found objects), typography, publications, and Marcel Duchamp's radical "readymades" (mass-produced objects presented as art). The very name "Dada," chosen randomly, reflects the movement's embrace of meaninglessness.
Summary of Common Characteristics:
| Feature | Characteristic Description (Dada) |
|---|---|
| Light | Generally irrelevant as an aesthetic concern. Used functionally in photography/photomontage. |
| Surface/Texture | Diverse, Found, Juxtaposed: Deliberate use of everyday materials, newspaper clippings, photos, scraps, machine parts. Rejects traditional 'fine art' surfaces; texture often results from collage/assemblage. |
| Figures/Objects | Fragmented, Recontextualized, Absurd: Use of readymade objects, found images (photomontage), nonsensical combinations. Figures often satirized (Grosz) or deconstructed. Challenges the idea of artistic creation. |
| Space/Depth | Illogical, Collaged, Flattened: Rejects illusionistic space. Space is often created by layering found materials or through jarring juxtapositions in photomontage. Can be deliberately chaotic or nonsensical. |
| Color Palette | Arbitrary, Found, Graphic: Color determined by found materials or used for strong graphic impact (e.g., black, white, red in posters/typography). No interest in naturalistic or harmonious color. |
| Composition | Chaotic, Chance-Driven, Asymmetrical: Often embraces chance operations (Arp). Designed to disrupt visual harmony and rational order. Jarring juxtapositions are key. Focus on provocation over aesthetics. |
| Details/Lines | Found text and images are crucial. Lines can be mechanical (Picabia), satirical/cartoonish (Grosz), fragmented, or part of typographic design. Rejects traditional skilled draftsmanship. |
| Mood/Emotion | Ironic, Absurdist, Nihilistic, Critical, Playful (subversively), Angry, Provocative, Anti-Establishment. Expresses disgust, challenges norms, celebrates nonsense, aims to shock and liberate from convention. |
| Subject Matter | Critique of War, Nationalism, Bourgeois Values. The Absurdity of Logic & Language. Questioning the Nature of Art: Originality, authorship, aesthetics. Mass Media & Modern Life: Use of found imagery, typography. Chance & Irrationality. |
Dada aimed not to create new aesthetic forms, but to destroy old ones and question the very basis of art and culture.
Historical Context & Influences
Dada was born directly from the trauma and disillusionment of World War I:
- World War I (1914-1918): The unprecedented scale of destruction fueled profound cynicism about progress, reason, and nationalism. Zurich, in neutral Switzerland, became a refuge.
- Post-War Instability: Spread to centers like Berlin during the chaotic early years of the Weimar Republic, where it took on a more overtly political, satirical character.
- Avant-Garde Precedents: Built on the iconoclastic and provocative spirit of earlier movements like Futurism (using manifestos, performance, typography) but sharply rejected its nationalism and pro-war stance. Incorporated techniques from Cubist collage. Inspired by absurdist writers like Alfred Jarry.
Influences: Primarily a reaction against the prevailing social, political, and artistic norms perceived as contributing to the war. Influenced by skepticism, anarchism, and a desire to start from zero.
Key Artists & Their Contributions by Center
- Zurich (Cabaret Voltaire, 1916 onwards): (Focus on performance, abstraction, chance)
- Hugo Ball: Poet, performer, key founder of Cabaret Voltaire; performed abstract sound poems like Karawane.
- Tristan Tzara: Romanian poet, primary theorist, promoter, author of Dada manifestos.
- Jean (Hans) Arp: Sculptor and painter; explored chance in creating collages and abstract biomorphic reliefs.
- Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Also key participants in performances, visual arts.
- Berlin (c. 1918 onwards): (More political, invention of photomontage)
- Raoul Hausmann & Hannah Höch: Pioneered political photomontage, critiquing Weimar society, gender roles.
- George Grosz & John Heartfield: Used drawing and photomontage for powerful anti-militarist, anti-capitalist satire.
- Hanover: Kurt Schwitters: Developed his unique "Merz" concept – creating art from urban detritus (collages, assemblages, the environmental Merzbau).
- Cologne: Max Ernst: Worked with collage and irrational juxtaposition, later a key Surrealist.
- Paris (Post-WWI): (More literary, philosophical; bridge to Surrealism)
- Francis Picabia: Created ironic 'mechanomorphic' paintings and drawings, published Dada journal 391.
- Man Ray: American photographer and object-maker associated with Dada and Surrealism.
- Arrival of Tristan Tzara in 1920 intensified Paris Dada activities.
- New York (Earlier, independent spirit):
- Marcel Duchamp: French artist whose pre-Dada and concurrent activities profoundly challenged art's definitions with readymades (Fountain, Bicycle Wheel), conceptualism, and irony.
- Man Ray, Francis Picabia: Also active in New York circle around Alfred Stieglitz's gallery '291'.
Notable Works
- Readymades/Conceptual: Duchamp, Fountain (1917), Bicycle Wheel (1913), L.H.O.O.Q. (1919), The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) (1915-23).
- Photomontage/Collage: Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife...; Hausmann, Tatlin at Home; Heartfield's anti-Nazi montages (later); Schwitters' Merz pictures; Arp's chance collages; Ernst's collage novels.
- Painting/Drawing: Picabia's machine portraits; Grosz's satirical drawings.
- Performance/Texts: Ball's sound poetry; Tzara's manifestos; Dada journals (Cabaret Voltaire, Dada, Merz, 391).
Legacy and Influence
Despite its relatively short lifespan and "anti-art" stance, Dada's impact on subsequent art is immense and ongoing:
- It fundamentally challenged traditional notions of art, authorship, originality, and aesthetics.
- Introduced radical techniques like photomontage, assemblage, readymades, and performance art into the artistic vocabulary.
- Its embrace of chance, irrationality, and humor opened new paths for artistic exploration.
- The spirit of protest, institutional critique, and blurring of art/life continues to inform contemporary art.
- Directly paved the way for Surrealism, which sought to channel Dada's exploration of the irrational into a more systematic investigation of the subconscious mind (many Dadaists became Surrealists).
- Influenced later movements like Fluxus, Neo-Dada (Rauschenberg, Johns), Pop Art, Conceptual Art, and performance art.