Hey everyone! I know Joel is the man when it comes to militaria, so I’ll leave that to him, but let’s talk about artistic movements that come from wartime. Sure, we could discuss trench art or recruitment posters, but the way in which war influences art is not only fascinating, but also extremely important to understand the feelings of those living through war.
After the end of World War I, Dada was born. Although I am biased as Dada is my favorite artistic movement, Dada was the ultimate form of social and political protests. Prolific artists such as Hannah Hoch emerged during this time, one of her most famous works being “Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany.” The work appears to be nonsensical with figures and words pasted on paper, but it tells a pointed story. A critic of postwar Germany and the Weimar republic, the images that appear in this work includes a map of countries where women were allowed to vote, and a clear divide between Dada and anti Dada elements. Kaiser Wilhelm II Stands above the Dada portion amongst machinery and floating heads, images of men unwittingly participating in violent and nonsensical acts and women dancing, skating and climbing. The work celebrates the idea of the “New Woman” and celebrating their victories while mocking the newly established Weimar Republic.
At the same time fellow Dada artists John Heartfield and Rudolf Schlichter organized the First International Dada Fair which worked much like traditional salons. The piece that they had created for this exhibit was titled “Prussian Archangel,” a dummy dressed in a German military uniform with the head of a pig. From a sign hanging around its head read “I come from heaven; from heaven on high” while a band around the waist read “In order to understand this work of art completely, one should drill daily for twelve hours with heavily packed knapsack in full marching gear on the Tempelhof Field.” This was a very pointed attack on the German military and the government they believed was the cause of WWI.
Hope you all learned something new! The world around us shapes art, you never know when something new will come along!
