Dadaism

Dadaism was used to distract people from the depression of the war and make fun and make digs at the upper classes, and the intellectual and rigid way of life at the time. Was one of the first art movements that didn’t take its self seriously and reject all other forms of law and logic to create something completely unique, abstract, absurd and even uses humour. The idea of using humour was to lighten the spirits of the world and try cover up the depression of the war. Exaggeration is used to over complicate things and even make certain aspects completely unrecognisable.

Dadaism was a very antiestablishment movement and was introduced to create a reaction. The work was often extremely risky and sometimes offensive, it was also used to call out people and stir things in a humorous way.

This art movement moved away from all forms of traditional art work and expressed its self into many other forms. Dadaism was also involved in fashion, people would often make and wear unusual costumes, as well as these being visually intriguing they would also be made out of strange materials, sometimes even using things like metal and cardboard.

Dadaism inspired more than just humour, fashion and art, it even moved on to inspire professional graphic designers and typographers and was introduced to many forms of performances.

Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball are some of the most influential and important artists from the period. Tzara was a french pet, shows the development of the period and how its transitioned into something much bigger than actual artwork and how Dadaism became an actual way of life for many. The idea of being against laws and social groups is something that Dadaism was bases upon, but it has been argued that the idea contradicts itself as the movement itself is a social group. So if you are intact a true Dadaist, you are against Dadaism.

 

(Hugo Ball, Flight out of Time 1927)
(Raoul Hausmann, The Art Critic 1919-1920)
(Hugo Ball, Poetry Reading 1916)

These are some important pieces of work from the period, one thing that was heavily used in the period was the collage technique and juxtaposition, as it would allow the artist to create strange, unusual and abstract work that showed alot of confusion. The third picture was one the sort of costumes that were made in the period, they weren’t always easy to wear and functional.

This is my interpretation of the collage style. I used ripped pieces from magazines, i used different style of magazines so that the theme of the collage would be juxtaposed and create confusion. I really like the style of the collage and think it can be used to create some very interesting and unique pieces of artwork.