Dada Art Movement "Dada is a state of mind... Dada is artistic free thinking... Dada gives itself to nothing... ." So is Dada defined by André Breton.

The beginnings of Dada The artists and writers of the time were dismayed by the stupidity and horror of WWI. The conflict was new in history because of its terrifying new weaponry. On average almost 900 Frenchmen and 1,300 Germans died every day between 1914-1918. All told ten million people were killed.

MYP Global Context FAIRNESS AND DEVELOPMENT What are the consequences of our common humanity? Security and freedom, freedom of expression Justice, peace, and conflict management. KEY CONCEPT CHANGE – The Dada artists and writers wanted change.

Vocabulary will will be defining Dada Security Peace Collage Photomontage “Sound” poetry – Onomatopoeia Frottage

Key Objective You will learn and understand how artists use their art to protest what they do not think is fair in their world. You will create a cover for your sketchbook using the methods the Dada artists used.

You need to be able to answer: What was the Dada movement? Who were some of the Dada artists and what they did to protest? How can you use the techniques of others to create? How does a protest make others think about what they are doing?

You will be graded upon Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding Do you have a thorough understanding of the topic being studied. (Vocabulary and short answers) Criterion B: Application – Proficiency of your finished piece. Criterion C: Reflection and evaluation response to what you learned and the quality of your product. Criterion D: Artistic Awareness and Personal Engagement Did you actively participate, show initiative, enthusiasm, nd commitment?

Citizenship during unit Are you following the classroom and school rules of SRR?

Dadaism (1916-1923) Randomly open a dictionary, point to any word, and call that an art movement. That is what a group of artists did when they were trying to determine a name for their group. DADA – Hobby horse.

Originated in Switzerland Spread to other parts of the world – Berlin, Cologne, Paris, Netherlands, United States. Dada’s chosen weapon was art, but it was art like the world had never seen. Spread to art, writing, poetry, theater, music, and other art forms.

Boundaries were pushed Dada championed spontaneity, absurdity, and free will. They ridiculed the artists we have all come to love: Leonardo da Vinci, Paul Cezanne, etc.

Many creative forms developed Dada did not constitute an actual artistic style, but the group favored collaboration, spontaneity, and chance. Many Dadaists worked in collage, photomontage (fragments of photographs with the written word), found-object construction, rather than painting and sculpture. With time, out of the chaos, grew an interest in the dream world. Regardless of the disorganized and chaotic nature of this movement, many creative and spontaneous forms of art developed, including verbal, conceptual, and physical inventions. All of these experiments and practices allowed the Dadaists to escape the harsh reality and embrace a world of fantasy, imagination, absurdity, and insanity. Fantasy and explorations of the unconscious were direct fruits of the Dada movement. With time, out of chaos and nihilism grew an interest in the dream world.

Some of the artists of the Dada movement Hugo Ball Hans (Jean Arp) Marcel Duchamp Man Ray Francis Picabia George Grosz Max Ernst Kurt Schwitters

Hugo Ball (1886 – 1927) Co-founder of the Dada movement. He composed “sound” poems.

Jean (Hans) Arp (1886 – 1966) Born in Strasbourg, France He showed work to artists such as Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso. By the time he was 25 he was an artist and poet of distinction. He used collage and free form as his point of interest in his work. While in Zurich he joined the Dada movement. 1925 joined the surrealists and spent most of his time creating artworks done by methods of chance rather than based on the subconscious. Jean (Hans) Arp (1886-1966) - Dada Artist Jean (Hans) Arp Another famous Dadaist and Surrealist was Jean Arp. German artist, writer and poet, Arp was one of the founding members of the Dada art group in Zurich, Switzerland. Arp rejected the traditional conventions of art and culture and embraced the beauty of chance that was guided by nature. In his early collages and reliefs, Arp examined the disorder and the irrationality of Dada, however, his later work was influenced by the Surrealist theories. He believed that only through abstraction the true higher level of reality could be achieved. He explored this concept using chance art and automatism. Arp allowed the nature of chance to guide the outcome of his collages, thus freeing himself from reality and producing art that was untouched by the artist's hand. Arp passionately described Dada's irrational art form and their opposition to traditional art: "Dada aimed to destroy the reasonable deceptions of man and recover the natural and unreasonable order. Dada wanted to replace the logical nonsense of the men of today by the illogically senseless…Dada is senseless like nature. Dada is for nature and against art. Dada is direct like nature. Dada is for infinite sense and definite means." Later, his unconscious and desires were translated into the pure abstraction, or simplification of shapes. Organic sculptures inspired by biomorphic forms found in nature were reminiscent of animals or marine organisms. These were no longer repulsive or disturbing as his early Dada work.

Jean (Hans) Arp Started drawing at a young age but got tired of drawing realistic things. To get relief he started to write poetry. Went to Strasbourg School of Applied arts to read poetry. On a visit to Paris in 1904 he came in contact with Modern art and he loved it and got involved with it again.

Jean Arp Unreasonable Order

Hans (Jean) Arp Collaged with Squares Arranged by Laws According to Chance

Collage Artists With collage the artists could use items such as advertisements, newspapers, etc. to represent their ideas. Sometimes the Dada collage is not a collage at all, because it did not involve cutting and gluing. One artist would cut out print material, and paint over most of it, and leave a few sections out.

Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968) A French artist, Marcel had a significant impact on Dada and the Surrealist movements through his witty, humorous, and bold approach to art. He refused to accept the norm. He was interested in art that stimulated one’s mind. He examined “anti-art”, and challenged the definition of art. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) - Dada Artist He truly changed the history of art, opening our eyes to the unlimited possibilities that were previously unknown. He encouraged people to see the invisible realm of art, a realm that viewers could connect to on a personal level.

Marcel Duchamp The Fountain

Marcel Duchamp He went further still.. He would buy common manufactured items, and simply proclaim them to be “readymade” artworks. He thought art should be about ideas rather than beautiful objects.

Nude descending a staircase

Man Ray (1890 – 1976) An American artist who was the founder of the Dada group in New York. He boldly explored chance, surprise, and risk through art, writing, painting, photography, and mixed-media assemblages. His work contained hidden puns and messages.

The rope dancer accompanies herself with her shadows

Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) German artist. In the 1920’s he experimented with the automatist technique producing a series of drawings called Natural History. These paintings are created by rubbing paper with graphite over different surfaces. He called this technique “frottage.” Max Ernst (1891-1976) - Surrealist Artist Max Ernst German artist Max Ernst was an active member of the Dada and Surrealist art movements. In the1920s he experimented with the automatist technique producing a series of drawings called Natural History. These drawing were made by rubbing paper with graphite over different surfaces. He called this technique "frottage," from the French word "frotter" meaning "to rub." Ernst combined these rubbed surfaces suggestive of magical forests and disturbing figures according to chance. Texture can be seen in the simulated as well as actual manipulation of the material. Uneven lines and shapes in the surface of paper or canvas are translations of the tree bark and other natural and found objects that he employed. Frottage allowed Ernst to react to images unconsciously as he collected and juxtaposed them. Texture and pattern guided his decisions and inspired his ideas. He also applied the same technique to oil painting which he referred to as "grottage." Ernst was obsessed with forests, and later bird forms. In the later years of Surrealism, Ernst adopted a more academic approach to painting called Illusionism. His seductive and provocative bird forms reveal his desires and fantasies.

Frottage – adds texture

L’evade’

Francis Picabia (1879 – 1953) Born in Paris, France Associated with Cubism, Abstract art, Dada, and Surrealism.

Francis Picabia

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874 – 1927) Born in Germany She was a Dadaist artist and poet who worked for several years in Greenwich Village, New York.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Berlin Dadaist Hannah Höch Indian Dancer, 1930

Hoch Became famous for her photomontage techniques. Da-Dandy, 1919

Hoch – Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada ….

Hoch – German Girl, 1930 Fusion of male and female

Photomontage The Dada artists who used this technique had a goal, and that was to take back the control of the media.

Far reaching effects Dada wanted people to wake up and look critically at the world around them. Its preoccupation with the bizarre, irrational, and fantastic was the beginning of the Surrealism movement. The reliance of the accident were later employed by the Abstract Expressionists.

Now we will create a piece of art using some of the Dada methods. We will review the concepts and vocabulary before you have the test.