a nah eh Cathie Caer ge 19) ‘The Supremacy of the Message ats in Benin ‘The invention of photomontage among che Berlin Dadatss has been claimed an the ope hand by Raoul Hausmann and Hanns Héch, and ‘onthe other by George Grose and Join Mesefeld. George Grose wrote to Franz Roh whzn the late was about to publish Photo-£ye in 109. hearfild and I hod already in 1915 made interesiag photo- pasting-montage experiments ¢ fhe Gime we founded the geese and Iheacteld concern (shdende 1915). ehe name "manteue” (invented (or hearfield, who invariably went sbout in an old Bie suit, and whose ‘workin. our joint afar was much ike mounting.” Avother statement bby Gross putehe dateat 1916, and expanded on he circumstances ofthe In 916, when Johony Heard and Liaventd potomonageinmy sudiost thesoudhend of the towout ve dclock ane wy morning ss hu 863 Ue immense pst, ot of the thorny but scent eae, Oe ated ‘hcncw anion On apie: oferdhosrd we pases mishmathot aver ‘ems for er eka art songbooks sod og food, abel rom snaps nd wine bates and photograph fom picture tapes canapas ilo cs stor atts pte, what wouldve buen onc bythe sensors fe Fadsundcin words, Incis way we made posted supposed vohave bos sent home frm he Font o from home tthe Fron, hile some of our cade, Tretyakov avons hen, to cent he legend that Potemomtage wat a en thon of the-toamymens mare What did happen wae tat Heareld wos ‘moved devlop wha stared stan mammary pte joke int cont ‘ious antic tectique™ Hacsoann on the other hand asserts that the geet of the idea was planted while he and Hanaah Héch were on holay in the sumaner of "os8 oe the Baltic coast, where they saw inalmostevery house aframed coloured lithograph with the image of asoldie against a backgcoundot bocracks, "To make this miltiy erento mote personal 4 photo graphic portrait had been stack oa n plhce ofthe hes” Hannah Heh hava more precise memory, recorded by Riceer in Dude. Art and 9Ant-Ar, of an ‘oleograph of Kaiser Witheis Il surcounded by ances= tors, descendants, German oaks, medls and soon, hight higher up, buen the middle, stood young grenadier under whosehelme the fer oftheir landloed. Her Felten, was patie in. There un the mide of Iissuperiors, stood the young soldier, erect and prod smd the pomp nd splendour ofthis world. This paradoxical sition aroused Hi ‘mann's perennish aggresive steak." Havsmann rcalized in- ‘mediately that he could make picrorescomposed exclusively of eut-up photographs, and hisexctement mist have been de othe idea oe just ‘fa now technique, Bato echnique in which he image wou lina ‘As Hannah Hch pointed out though, the practice of photomontage two she mame, had been fambiorsines childhood, part ofthe world of popular postatds itaso related, she felt co the great development af Photography ise durmg the Fist World War: seca Views, microm copy and radiography. * "None ofthe postcirds Grose describes has survived, buc ite possible uae the typocollage’ Heartfield designed co advertise Grows Ki Grosz Mepye resembles them. This ‘typocollage' was published in Nave Jugend jue 1917, whic was later described "the fist Dads review” in the eatalogve of the Intemational Dada Fee in Bevin (2020) and 16 Hannah Hich Dee Bi gnot 17 Hamma ch Catag 90 WETAG SO mmJo. Treibenin Universal-Ciey. 12, s mitags (Life and Activity in Unie versal City at 12.05 midday), which was als used forthe cover and has subscquettly sequieed the ste “Dads-phoromontage’ Portraits of Hausmans, Hearild and Grosz by Henrield were labelled io ahe catalogue dadaphoros. In Mecano (Rei), 102, the late NeorDada fe view edited by the De Se 27st Theo van Deesburg under his Dada pscudonyi 1. X. onset, an Eenstcollage-engraving i described 3 ‘phote-mechanial composition’ and the sme isue has Hausmann’: 27 Tulsa Home but wath no descripive label. A photomontageby Haus ‘mana in Mecano (Blor) s abled ‘Constcucton’, ‘The way in which photographs were wilzed in these montages o¢ “constrictions” ran to no simple formula ether, a mare collage-lke appearance continued side by side with the exchaive use of POO fraps. So, the second iaae of Der Duda (December 1919) teproduced Hausmann’ collage Gurg, constructed from newspaper castings and slied-op woodeuts, 2 collage by Baader with 2 photograph of himself lxeaking through, and fally-blovn photomontage, ine porta of 24 Baader and Hausmann, with Baader's pipe “smoking roe ‘Grost’s and Hausmann's different accounts ofthe ‘discovery’ of| ‘Photomontage both stress sources in the popular and comic arrange mene af photographs, and both seized on the possbilitns of signiics- tion and on the subversive poteasal of the medium. This is how Haue- ‘ann yao desribe ie much ster, in his lcture aye time of the fee, major exhibition of photomontage in Bexkin in 193 Peopleofien sume that photomantgeis only pascal in tw frp ial propaganda and commer uly. The five potent te Dada ated rn the point of view, o then cones, tt arse pinting puctucune expressions, Bil ll because of monje) Indus absence of conections ud hat tot only pang, but a he ae and ‘hei techs nested fundamen ana seveunonary cunge, i ee femainintaueh with abe bf of thee epocy The member of the Clas Dake trerenatrlypoimeesedinelibratng new aeseterubs. = it hesaet tf potoetontge wa sr evchoniry content ts fn se beri ss ‘Seapliston ef the phonograph and penta tna whi, ogee, Me ae formed inosine Fen Having hve the ete sialesncous and ply ‘hone poom, ts Dads sped he sane prnelsopstonal eprisetce fon They wee the ett ane photogs mace eat, withthe sak {tStgcttes thi were very ferent oer anonlgus and tn anagem: Ssmiiance, 3 new ey hich sore from the eu wae snd ovolson 30 nel new ihage an they were sue that they ed posted 3 Pop Sands power oitchthircomtemporariesbadnot be courageto splot. 2 Johar Baler Dad Mane u8-20 i 4 4 £Towards theend ofthe war Berlin wat ahal€-sarved nightmare city, and there was inecessng Socal and politcal chaos, which wat to lst ati 1933: 49 Fors Soviet Republics Were briefly set upin several major nan cites, iachiding Berlin, Of the Bern Dada Club, which in- cluded Huelsnbeck, Hausmann, Grose, Wieland Heeaelde and his lrother Joli Heaitfedy Huonah Hide, fohannes Baader and, briedy, Frane ung, ony Heraflde, Heartfield and Grose joined the German (Communist Party (KD) is December 1918. But the group 362 whole sided ith the eadial lft wing ayzince the middleclass republic of Ebert and Schiedemann and, afer the delet ofthe November Revolt tion, through the emly months of 1919, were vorsferous in their ‘opposition. They produced many periodicals, news-shees and pam= piles, not all of which were Dadar, for which conventional layout Scemed inappropriate, and typographical anarchy begen Tmarustic terms, Dados constant chosen enemy was Expressionism, and i singling out ite inwardness and Uzopésnisim, andl the emptiness fof ts thetore, Huclaenbeck, in the fist Dada Manifesto of the Belin [grup in 1988, called instead for an at “which i ts conscious content Presents the thowandfold problem of the day. the ae wih hes been ‘isily shatecred by the explosions oflast week, whichis forever tying to collet its mb afer yesterday's cash. The best and mast extr20r= inary accits will be those sho every Hour saath the utters of cheit bochs gut ofehe frenzied extract off, who sith bleding hands nd hheats, hold fst to the intelligence of thee time," Photomontage perhaps comes closest to ulfing Muclsenbeck’s ideal, The visibly Shatered surice of Dadesnerth, or Hearield’s Universe! iy, is 2 lever image of a violent and chaotic society than, for example, The Funeral ofthe Anarchist Calli a painting by the Futurist Care, And in sing the very stffof today's and yesterday's news, Dada was begin~ png tosubver the yoige of society itself. Gros's montage My Ger. ‘many, Fer ee unpublished anthology Daa, has some of the power of Heatfil’s late work: Prussian soldiers ae enthroned inthe heat ofa fr capitalise whose blot bald hebd sprowts snippet: of the financial news. This sone ofthe fist montages 0 show the nglorious asocin= tion of money and wat, later go bea constant theme with Hearfil. "The connection between ltrs and capital, persistent basis for Gross stack on the Weimar Republic, was explored by bias ina numberof lithographs and dexwings. In "The commanioes ae dying aindthe foreign exchange rate gocs up? fom Cott mituns,acallection of 26 2) agetramral eof ofthevneblihed Shay Ded 950 tno lighographs of 1930, the caption reveals the dee lationship between ‘hetwo apparently disparate scenes; this was. principle of construction Hearted wis sommes ue in his later photomontages. “The frst International Dad Fai, eld im Berin in 1920, included works by Arp, Prabis and Erast as well as by the Berlin group. The highlight of ee Fir, whieh edt prosecution fr defaming the Rel wwobr German Aer), as the stlfed dummy, dressed in a German officer's uniform withthe head of pig." ‘The stated theme of the exhibition was "Artis deal! Long lve the machine att of Tatlin. The recaereat mouf in the photomontages ‘exhibited by Hausmann and Hanrah Hich is the machine, yet their Iciude t0 the machine ie far from unsmbigwous. Beside Dal Cor: fuse, which proclaimed the world vietry of Dada, hung Tain et Home, demonstrating, apparent, the adiation and sympathy ofthe Berlin Dadaist for thenew Prodction Artin Russia. However, Haus- rman stated in 1967 thae this was an acidentl, haphazard accamla= {don of images, rater diana planned affirmation of ‘machine ar = of ‘whose manifestations, ifany, ta Rusia, they had only the hasiest idea 24 Gearge Grove My Como fom DassLeafing through am American phocogeaph of Feminded his of Tatlin, He was, however, more it ‘he image of a man who only fad machines in his head’ Fi point smuges were added to balance and expan eh fast idea: the ‘dommy with sf, oxganic insides, dhe man taming outempey packets (Tatlin can't have een rich’), dhe boats stem with srew-peopellee 6 feding thefina touch, Asin Dade Conquers, the backgrounds painted. 2 steeply receding, platformlke loor which, together with other d= tals anda certaia eine quality, i reminiscent ofthe paintings of De Chic. 34 _Thephotograph of Raoul Hausmann and Hannah Hoch atthe Dada air shows them standing i font oftheir photomontges, including Hausmann's Festival Dns (1920) in which a pressure gavge is mounted inplee ofa heed. There are, clearly, parallels betwen photomoncages and the constructed objects which chide ready-made mate which became’ prominent feature of Dada, and abe heralded the Sorteaist object. At the Berlin Dada Far, besides the stufed dummy i Gecman officer's uniform mentioned above, there was dress RaoslHavinanaandonmahHehsethe 34 Rio Haven Dakss 20 Inermatonl Dad ar, Ber, 1930 7 Ratton maticaldommy with an electric light balls fr the head, and a rast knife and ork and military decorstion auached, Such objects recall Hvelsen= beck's comments on Zirich Dada collages {che ‘new medi, 33 Be Called i) hich e crtiozed for not taking the medium to it logical ‘onelusion, by using eal dings ikea pot office orn. ? Huclenbeck ‘a thinking ere ln cerms ofthe at sutfce ofthe colle, bu the sep tothe three dimensional wasinestabie and had precedents Sothin Picasso's Cubbt constructions dod. sclie-inembloges, oad in ‘Duchamp’sceadymades. The New York issues of Bcebs' ps (2997), had contained photographs of pain, mass-produced objects sugpes- tively labelled, lke the electric igh bulb cided A méricane' American Gist} Objects like che ‘adored’ dommy or Hausmann's mechanical hed Spirief Our Tine could be sid co bear simile relationship to the photomontages of Hach, Grosz or Hausmann as earlier Dada works, Tike Janeo's Carson 3 (e9¢7), with ts abstract exploration of the Properties of wire, e2., do to abstsee Dada cllags In Dada riots, moves and det i Berlin’ (Stadio Inemaionel, April 1971) Hausmann mentions dhe influence of the Russian Jen Gols chew, who made assemblages of uausual materials 25 well as collages. Hosen’ Spirit of Our Tine, 2 wooden head with a walle, spe measure, collapsible drinking cup and numbered card (among other things) added, ‘vas intended o express the pty bourgeoss spit of the times, unthinking, withous individuality, reduced to epee and peo ageessvely dehumavized. Both the assembling of diverse ebjects to Fepresent characteristics or stibutes, to, na sense, ‘narrate and the substieaing ofa pare of he human form with another. often mechani fal, object, ae practices that have parallels in photomontage.Spint of ‘Our Time was, seems, constucted after the Dada Fait, one of the objects tha aroused considerable interest atthe Dado Fai, ad was reproduced on the cover of Hueaenbuck' Date Almanac (1920) where it comes ta rowmnble a photomontge, was an altered and parilly painted white plaster replica of Beethoven's death mask, by O80 Schmalhausen, Dada-Or, Gros's brothersinlaw. Hannah Héch’s photomentages, lke Cut with the Cae Kia (citea 1919}, ate often considerably larger than those of Flausmana, Grose oF Heartld and sesso aieily differen composition. No attempts made here to create an illsionstic space, 25 Havemann and Groce Feequently do, nor the explosive eagmentatian,ehe surface splinting oftleartila’sLifeand Acvty iu Universal City a 2.05 midday. x Cat ~ 28 Raoul avaatn Th Spd Or 29 Coverof Dade Almac 0ith he Coke-Kae, disparate elements, phocographs and serap oftext are thickly seatered over the gurlae, but mort sil remain legible ke ‘words on 2 page. Yet whcte the paper islet blink, « denying snd shaming space created round the te gars suspended there, Coes, Svlcels and ther bite of machinery dominate the heads and bodies whieh ate often grotesquely t-asimbled. The tiny head ofa bearded ‘man, for ustanee, tops the body ofthe huge baby on the right. Many te portits offend, fellow Dadas nd the famans, and Lenin sem beside Baader juse above the scription ‘Die grosse dats" (The big ada}, whle Hausmann dangles, withthe body of mechanical puppet, jose blow. Inthe lower lft section, severa] photographs of erawd Scenes te pasted together, to construct an apparently mare ordered but acwally Uscontinuous apace. the crowds ate being haeangued by 3 Pupperhike demagague: Teter dado bri Qo dads) Poruaits and sll-portrats are commonly izcluded in che Dada Photemantages. Hawsmans, Gross, Baader and Hoch all included Photographs of themeevs oF ther friends, and sometimes the pore fictional, 2s in Maaemana’s Tati at Home or Baade's Te Avior ot Hye In Geos and Hears Cte Sel Pra oF Re (2/20), the ead of Rouseas hmsel is replaced wit hat of Hausmann, 30 Geng rer Heil La i ia milsy 919 * * 31 Hab Hh Dade Dawe soaet SM FIELD, oC AND.‘The jastaposition ofthe human and the mechanical was a recurteot ‘home inthe montages ofthe Bern Dadaist, andalsointhote of Eat |nCologne and of Schwitters in Hanover. Alhougl Schwitersempha sized the nonailvstational eof his collage materials, there ate several ‘works scaly ar 1919-20 which incorporate phorographs, and he con= Finaed sporadialy to six photograpi and engravings n hie calages allie ifs ‘There was also close connection between Data photomonage and ‘he Dada poctey of for instance, Hans Arp, Tristan Trsea ad Kort Schwittees, which involved the random use of sentences [03 WS pipers, schaps of conversation and slichés out of context, wend \weenched fre theie normal srocations. Tn Dada rolliges and photomoncges, fragments of text (usualy from eeady-tnade soarces like thei companion pote and engravings) reed in fsr more aggresive way than i Cubism, in amintute that ‘afte res to eny the undeniable diatnction Between word and image “Touts are stewed for visual properties, and Hansmann on occasion used his own phonetic paem posters" 3s the bass fora photomoneige sin The Art Ce ‘ABCD (1933-4 slike swan-song of Dads, 2 seeaphook of Dads acchitie, Hausovzan fimsel, im + photograph that spears mors han Dee in_his plotomontages, declims one of his phonetic poems (ABCD, the fst eters ofthe alphabet sanding fc che sound poem) fndharwheal-like mnonocle dasa on hiseye. Numbered sickets frm the Kaiser’ bilee recall provocative interruptions of efi cee ‘ooies; the Mere ticket commemorates Hausmeann’s(iendsip with Schwitters and the tiny sap map ia the top ight shows Haran the own in Ethiopie where Rimbaud, Hauemann's fvounte poet, ac= gowledged by Dads and Surealies i general lived aftr renouncing poetry. Whats che beth co which Hausmann refers withthe obstetric examination cut from the pages of2 media textbook ~ Dada isl? “Hasemsnn was to remain ial to Dada anarchism, bat ochre, afer Dada, took up more scively political pnstions. Looking back on Dada, Grose and Heraede wratein Die Kamat in Caf (2928) "Os mistake was to ave concerned ourselves with areal» We save ‘then Whe insane end-products ofthe prevallng sacl order, an6 burst ‘out bughing, We did not yet see thar a system undeday thie insanity, Te was precisely thie system that Heaield w3s 0 red and ake comprehensible, the beter Hig 6 96 Raul Haasan The An Cry 1 George Grose covet of jan san, Budvaundtyspreadwotbe names ble magnon crises suring ater (bed Word WT Hangs {udeperodcal ta whichenoved Viennin sao, opeidie pugs Doda fromtgst Thewsronset vers Fevodea mary wees) ens nd Dd whose ma tlencen phomonage ot pari