Dadaism and The Rejection of Reason
Dada was an art movement that emerged as a reaction to the brutality of World War 1. The movement rejected traditional views of reasoning by embracing a number of radical positions on politics, philosophy and society.
The Dada movement was born in 1916 when poet Hugo Ball opened Cabaret Voltaire, a gathering place for freethinking artists in Zurich. Initially a literary movement, Dada quickly rose to prominence and attracted artists who worked across mediums, ideologies and influences. As Dada rose to prominence, groups of independent Dadaists popped up in cities across the Western World. After prolonged disagreements between Dadaist members over their artistic direction, the cohesive movement fell apart in 1922 . While the movement collapsed after a short six years, many Dada artists went on to produce groundbreaking works and influence other movements. The Dadaism also lived on through influencing later art movements like Surrealism and Constructivism.
Like so many other modern art movements, the death and destruction of World War I was the catalyst for Dada. An estimated 37.5 million people died in World War I. This level of mass death and destruction was unprecedented at the time and was largely made possible by advancements in technology, communication and transportation. Traditional society viewed technological advancement as an improvement on society. Dadaists saw the war and society’s view of these issues as irrational and responded by creating art that was nonsensical. Dada art did not have a common style or practice but included the same elements of irrationality, surprise and chance. Dadaists philosophy completely challenged traditional views of war, class, religion, technology and morals. The philosophy condemned capitalism and nationalism, believing society’s idea of progress was wrong.
The Dada movement rejected authoritarianism. Marcel Duchamp, the most prominent visual artist from the Dada movement exemplified Dada’s sentiments in his works. Duchamp’s piece “The Fountain,” a signed urinal placed on its side, was featured in the Society’s Inaugural Exhibition in New York City, 1917. The piece caused public outrage but embodied Dada’s philosophy of complete artistic freedom and rejection of traditional values. Duchamp followed up the “The Fountain” with “L.H.O.O.Q.” A reproduced picture of the Mona Lisa with a drawn on mustache and goatee from Duchamp. The public saw this piece as an attack on traditional art while Duchamp later explained the piece as a play on the somewhat ambiguous gender roles in Leonardo’s work.
At the core, Dada was more philosophy than graphics. However, the Dada movement still managed to have a profound effect on modern art history. Two of the most notable influences by the Dadaists are the photomontage process and use of typographic elements. The photomontage process gave artists an outlet to create visual commentary in a profound way. The process became popular among many different other art movements. The Dadaists incorporated letterforms into their work as visual elements, experimenting with a new type of typography. The Dada movement was not the first or only movement to do this, but their style was unique and broke down some artistic barriers.
Dada’s very existence was a political act. Regardless of the subjects of their work, their core philosophy challenged traditional views of government, society and institutions. Some of the most significant artists to come out of the movement were extremely politically active. The most political Dadaists were John Heartfield, Wieland Herzfelde and George Grosz who made up the Berlin group. They used their work to communicate their views on political issues and promote political activities. Heartfield gained recognition from his layout design and striking book covers for political periodicals. These were constantly banned. Heartfield’s most notable work comes from his harsh criticism of Hitler and the Nazi party leading up and going through World War II. Heartsfield would even send his work in postcards directly to Nazi leaders.
Other Dada artists had unintentional political effects. For example, Kurt Schwitters created an offshoot of Dada called Merz that was meant to be nonpolitical. Schwitters was refused membership to the Dada movement for being to bourgeois. Yet he later met prominent Russian Constructivist El Lissitzky at a conference for progressive artists in Weimar. Schwitters collaborated with El Lissitzky in Weimar for nearly three years before El Lissitzky returned back to Russia. Schwitters introduced the photomontage process and other Dada elements to El Lissitzky who was influenced greatly. At that time, Bolshevik Russia was strongly supporting Russian artists and El Lissitzky’s work was embraced by the government. In the late 1920’s however, Lissitzky’s work started to become more critical of the USSR. Dada also influenced other Constructivists who mainly used their work to promote the soviet government. Some of the same artists would later be arrested by Lenin who outlawed non state-promoting art.
Constructivism was not the only art movement Dada influenced. Dada greatly influence the Surrealist art movement and in many ways Surrealism evolved out of Dadaism. Many artists who participated in the Dada movement went on to create Surrealists works. While Surrealism shared many philosophical similarities to Dadaism such as rejection of traditional views of logic and reason, they had many differences as well. Mainly, Surrealism placed massive emphasis on the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud who explored the irrationalities of human subconscious. Surrealist work also tended to be more lucid and organized in the composition.
In conclusion, Dada was born out of World War I and embraced a philosophy of rejecting societal views of progress and rationalism defined by technological advancement. The art movement was founded in Zurich but spread to cities across the Western World as it rose to prominence. Dadaism took stands against Capitalism and Nationalism. Some Dada artists became extremely politically active across Europe during the rise of the Bolsheviks, Weimar Republic and Nazi party. Other artists went on to create other movements like Surrealism. Dadaism itself influenced other art movements through graphic styles and properties like the photomontage process. At the core of it all, Dadaism philosophical thoughts on reason influenced many prominent artists and movements.