Neo-Dada: Redefining Art, 1958-1962

Author(s): Susan Hapgood and Jennifer Rittner

Source: Performing Arts Journal , Jan., 1995, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 63-70
Published by: Performing Arts Journal, Inc

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3245699

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 NEO-DADA
Redefining Art, 1958-1962
Susan Hapgood and Jennifer Rittner
An exhibition organized by The American Federation of Arts
he ironic wit, unconventional
methods, and provocative
themes of the avant-garde art-
ists of the late 1950s and early 1960s
are examined in "Neo-Dada: Redefin-
ing Art, 1958-1962," an AFA exhibi-
tion that is currently touring the coun-
try. Focusing for the first time on the
Neo-Dada phenomenon in the United
States and Europe, the exhibition exam-
ines the diverse art manifestations to
which the rubrics Pop Art, Nouveau
Realisme, Fluxus, and Happenings have
been applied. It demonstrates how im-
portant the Dadaist influence was dur-
ing this brief period, and reveals com-
mon attitudes that prevailed across a
broad spectrum of art. The exhibition
brings together 65 works, most created
in the period between 1958 and 1962,
by such artists as Arman, Jasper Johns,
Allan Kaprow, Yves Klein, Claes
Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Niki
de Saint Phalle, and Jean Tinguely. Also
included is a small selection of pieces by
Dada masters Marcel Duchamp and
Kurt Schwitters, whose work was a
crucial influence on the younger artists'
own readymades, found objects, detri-
tus, environmental, and performance
pieces.
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The term "Neo-Dada," though coined
in the late 1950s as a pejorative slap and
never applied consistently, quickly be-
came the principal term used to de-
scribe art made between Abstract Ex-
pressionism and Pop Art. During these
years of creative ferment, many younger
artists broke away from the then domi-
nant conventions of painterly abstrac-
tion in search of alternate approaches to
making art. Inspired by the radical meth-
ods, "anti-art" materials, and iconoclas-
tic attitudes of the original Dada move-
ment that flourished from 1916 until
1922, this new generation of artists
challenged the rules about what art
should be, both conceptually and visu-
ally.
The strongest Dada impulses informing
younger American and European artists
of the 1950s were Duchamp's notion of
the "readymade"-manufactured prod-
ucts designated as art objects-and
Schwitters's collage technique that in-
corporated scraps and bits of everyday
material. Although the appearance of
their work differs significantly, nearly all
of the artists characterized as Neo-
Dadaists seem definitively drawn either
to Schwitters's more formalist aestheti-
* 63
cized style, or Duchamp's more concep- tional culture. Artists such as Duchamp,
tual approach, which veered toward Schwitters, and Jean Arp, among oth-
irony and wit. More globally, the Neo- ers, experimented with theatre, music,
Dada artists' use of chance as a com- art created by chance, readymades, col-
positional method, their interest inlage, and political propaganda. Although
performance and other ephemeral mani- the movement lasted only six years, its
festations, and their challenges to themessage spread throughout much of the
conventional exhibition, distribution,world and continued to influence artists
and commodification of art, reflect pro-of later generations.
found shifts effected by Dada in atti-
tudes about making art. In 1951, a book which chronicled the
evolution of Dada, The Dada Painters
In this exhibition, concrete connections and Poets (Robert Motherwell, editor)
between the younger artists and theirwas published. Galleries and museums
Dada predecessors will be evident inorganized an increasing number of art
the ubiquitous reintroduction of the exhibitions focusing on Dada, and ideas
Duchampian "readymade," found ob- initiated by the Dada artist were passed
jects, found images, and detritus byon to young artists by Cage in a class on
such artists as Arman, Johns, Rausch-music composition taught at The New
enberg, and Tinguely; the extensionSchool. Many artists in Europe and the
into environments begun by Schwitters'sUnited States were empowered by their
Merzbau and later explored by Kaprow,new-found knowledge of the art move-
Edward Kienholz, and Oldenburg; the ment. By the late 1950s they had begun
use of chance as a compositional tool by to experiment with unconventional
Cage, Robert Morris, and De Saint materials, formats, techniques, and ex-
Phalle; and the anti-bourgeois ap-hibition spaces. "Neo-Dada" quickly
proaches taken by George Macuinas,became the term chosen to describe art
Daniel Spoerri, Piero Manzoni, and that demonstrated similar aesthetic and
Yoko Ono. Also represented in the exhi- ideological principles.
bition are Wallace Berman, George
Brecht, John Chamberlain, Jim Dine, By 1962 Neo-Dada was largely a thing
Fluxus, Jean Follet, Raymond Hains, of the past. Artists who had been re-
George Herms, Dick Higgins, Yves ferred to as Neo-Dadaists rejected the
Klein, Alison Knowles, Nam June Paik,label because they did not form a ho-
Carolee Schneemann, Richard Stan- mogeneous group or even an art move-
kiewicz, Ben Vautier, Andy Warhol, ment by their own or by institutional
Robert Watts, and LaMonte Young. definitions. Although the term "Neo-
Dada" is not widely accepted by artists
of the period, it is valuable in pointing
NEO-DADA to a common set of assumptions and
attitudes that prevailed across a spec-
Dada was founded in 1916 in Zurich trum of art that has now come to be
by artists and writers who fled their known as Pop Art, Nouveau Realisme,
respective homelands during the first Fluxus, Assemblage, Environments,
World War. Dada art mocked tradi-
Happenings, and Beat culture.

64 * PERFORMING ARTS JOURNAL 49

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 /..s/
4s I

%i?, I

,^~ ~ ~~. .i .

Collection of the artist. Photo: Courtesy Susan Hapgood/AFA.

Yoko Ono, Painting to Hammer a Nail, 1961 (recreated 1994). Wood panel,

Collection of the artist. Photo: Courtesy Susan Hapgood/AFA.

HAPGOOD and RITTNER / Redefining Art * 65

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 Top: Dick Higgins performing Danger Music
Number Seventeen, ca. 1962. Photograph.
Bottom: Dick Higgins, Score for Danger
Music Number Seventeen, ca. 1960, color laser
copy, 1994 (original, ink on paper),
31/1(" x 51/8". Collection: The Gilbert and Lila
Silverman Fluxus Collection. Photo: (top)
Mercedes Vostell/Courtesy AFA; (bottom)
Oren Slor/Courtesy AFA.

-111~~grd ?t~Br- B; ~ ~ ,- -Qk4

Dr.-?r tasic .'.ua:;er S n; .r:.?on'

Sciee m ^I SCeeam i! So.rene i

Sc:; .. eaai ! .. sc.'eanI !Ie.e anr I

~~~~l~~~~~~~% ?y~~~~~~~~~~~~ ? a*s~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~gPg~~~~~~~~~~~~s~~~~~~~i8tP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~nr ia~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-.~~~~~

Andy Warhol, Dr. Scholl 1960. Oil on canvas,

48" x 40". Collection: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art; gift of Halston (1982.505).
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/
Courtesy AFA.

66 * PERFORMING ARTS JOURNAL 49

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 George Herms, Saturn Collage
1960. Mixed media;
72" x 48" x 10". Collection:

ABSOCLUMENT
Paul Cornwall-Jones. Photo:
Ken Cohen/Courtesy AFA.

N' IM PCORTE
QU0,1 :OEST t0ART

Ben Vautier, Absolument n'importe

DU. 26 OCTOBRE AU 8 . NOVEMBR.E
quoi est art (Absolutely Anything Is
(RENSEIONEMElNTS ETY PROGRAMMIE) Art), 1962. Ink on paper;
GALERIE A - SQUARE ROYAL, 35, RUE
9W/ x 125/8". Collection: Jon and
D. FRANCE ET CENTRE D'ART TOTAL
Joanne Hendricks. Photo:
LESCAENE - - ICE TEL- sO.58- Oren Slor/Courtesy AFA.

HAPGOOD and RITTNER / RedefiningArt U 67

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 Arman, Invitation to Le Plein
(Full Up), 1960. Refuse in sardine
can; 41/8" x 21/21 X 1/8" (edition
number 438/500). Collection of
the artist, New York. Photo:
David Reynolds/Courtesy AFA.

Daniel Spoerri, Les Lunettes

noires (Black Eyeglasses), 1961
(recreated 1994). Metal pins
and eyeglass hinges glued to
eyeglasses; 13/4" x 43/8X x 51/2".
(Recreated by The American
Federation of Arts according to
the artist's instructions.)
Collection of the artist. Photo:
Don Soper/Courtesy AFA.

I I

68 U PERFORMING ARTS JOURNAL 49

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ASSEMBLAGE interesting." This statement epitomizes
the art included in this exhibition. Tzara's
The use of found objects to make sculp-
concept was revived by Cage in the late
tures has a rich history in twentieth-
1950s in his New School course. Artists
century art. Among the Dada artists,
increasingly rejoiced in everyday rou-
Schwitters most frequently adaptedtines,
cast- in mundane activities and objects
off bits of paper and wood to his collage
that by their very nature denied any
format, and even created an interior
possibility of artistic elitism, removing
environment including found elements.
art from its isolation on a pedestal.
He encouraged artists to consider what-
ever material they liked to make art.
At one extreme of this approach are the
various scores and texts in the exhibi-
Beginning in the early 1950s, Rausch-
tion which describe specific actions or
enberg freely assembled found objects
performances. In some cases these do
to create sculptures like Slow Fall(1961).
not even need to be performed, but can
These sculptures, which he sometimes
be realized mentally. LaMonte Young's
called "combines," undoubtedly inspired
various compositions, twelve of which
other American artists to use found are included, range from complex sets
elements. At the same time, the French of instructions incorporating methods
artist Arman accumulated household
of composition determined by chance,
refuse and then dared to display it in to more simple scores like Composition
vitrines, as in Grand Dechets bourgeois 1960 #55 (1960), which gives clear
(Large Bourgeois Trash) (1960). Equally instructions on a performance involv-
provocative is Kaprow's Untitled (1959), ing the flight of a butterfly. Even an
now recreated after the original of 1959. action as routine as making a salad was
It consists of a mound of newspaper specified in Proposition (1965) by Alison
balls that can be put together by any- Knowles. In his Danger Music Number
one, and which exists only for the dura- 17 (ca. 1960), Dick Higgins requires
tion of the exhibition. Another recycled more vehemence from the performer,
material is used in Butternut (1962) bywho is instructed to "Scream! !Scream!
John Chamberlain, who twisted and!Scream! !Scream! !Scream! !Scream!"
transformed pieces of automobile metal Some of the performance pieces created
to make a new abstract composition. By in the late 1950s and early 1960s echo
challenging traditional expectations the provocation and absurdity of those
about art, these and other works in the staged at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich
show throw more conventional art prac- during the early years of Dada.
tices into relief, provoking the viewer to
consider how arbitrary and constrictive
such traditions can become. PERMUTATIONS OF THE
READYMADE

ART OF THE EVERYDAY Readymades, a term first used by Marcel

Duchamp, are manufactured objects that
In 1922, the Dada poet Tristanartists
Tzara have decided to call art. Talking
wrote, "Art is not the most precious
about readymades like his Roue de
manifestation of life ... Life is far more
bicyclette (Bicycle Wheel) (1913/1964),

HAPGOOD and RITTNER / RedefiningArt * 6

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Duchamp said that he took "an ordi- tion with defecation. Or the giant
nary article of life, placed it so that its mechanized sculptural contraption of
useful significance disappeared under Spoerri's friend, Jean Tinguely, Meta-
the new title and point of view-cre- matic No. 12 ("Le grand Charles') (1951),
ated a new thought for that object" made to churn out abstract composi-
(The Blind Man, 1917). tions by itself and which makes humor-
ous references to originality and con-
Inspired by Duchamp's preference for sumerism in art, as well as the seriousness
choices of the mind instead of the
of abstract painting. Edward Kienholz,
ability of the hand, artists in the late
on the other hand, declared art to be a
1950s adopted objects, images, or ev- form of social protest. In O'er the Ram-
eryday activities and presented them asparts We Watched, Fascinated (1959), he
art. In George Brecht's Chair Events registered disgust for Americans' perva-
(1961), for example, the artist specifiedsive attraction to violence.
three different situations for the display
[The exhibition is organized by The American
of readily available chairs, accentuating
Federation of Arts. It is a project of ART
the importance of context in defining
ACCESS, a program of the AFA with major
the audience's perception of art. In
support from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest
Victoire de Samothrace (Victory Fund.
of It opened its tour at the Scottsdale Center
Samothrace) (1962/1973), Yves Kleinfor the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona in November
started with a miniature replica of a1994 and continues at the Equitable Gallery,
world-famous sculpture, and covered New
it York (January-March 1995); the Contem-
porary Arts Museum, Houston (Summer 1995);
with brilliant-colored blue pigment that
the Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford (Fall
he called "International Klein Blue."
1995); and the Florida International University
Art Museum, Miami (anuary-February 1996).
Some Neo-Dada artists intended their In conjunction with the exhibition, an illus-
work as a sort of pointed provocation or trated catalogue by Susan Hapgood is being
protest against traditionalism in art. published by the AFA in association with Uni-
verse Publishing. In addition to the curator's
Could there be a greater affront to
lead essay on Neo-Dada in the United States and
viewers accustomed to savoring the Europe, the book includes essays by Maurice
brushstrokes of abstract painting than Berger ("Forms of Violence: Neo-Dada Perform-
Daniel Spoerri's disturbing Les Lunette ance") and Jill Johnston ("Dada and Fluxus").
noires (Black Eyeglasses) (1961)? Perhaps Interviews with Arman, Allan Kaprow, Claes
it would be Piero Manzoni's Merda Oldenburg and Daniel Spoerri, and texts by
John Cage, Jasper Johns, and Niki de Saint
d'artista (Artists Shit) (1961), with its
Phalle accompany the essays.]
outrageous equation of artistic produc-

AFA guest curator SUSAN HAPGOOD was co-curator of the exhibition

FLUXATTITUDES presented at New Yorks New Museum for Contempo-
rary Art in 1992. A frequent contributor to Art in America, she is currently
curator of the Woodner Family Collection. JENNIFER RITTNER is AFA
Assistant Curator of Education.

PERFORMING ARTS JOURNAL, NO. 49 (1995) PP. 63-70:

Copyright ? 1994 The American Federation of Arts.

70 * PERFORMING ARTS JOURNAL 49

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