ARTT 1105

Take Home Exam

Semester 2 2015
Student Name: Maharani Anindita Wijaya
Student ID: 43654811
The University of Queensland

Artworks in modern era is interrelated with avant-garde. Avant-garde defined as work of art that
is experimental or innovative while on the other hand also respect to culture and politics. It was
the main motivation and momentum of modernism era. The main motivation of avant-garde was
to separate between arts and the contingent experience of modern world. Dadaist and Surrealist
works also part of avant-garde where they defined the motives and innovation of the work were
from social and political radicalism. Both movements aim to make people to see and experience
everything differently, yet affects their life as well. As a part of avant-garde movement, Dadaist
and Surrealist used the medium of photography with different goals and strategies.
The main idea of Dada is opposing the religion, capitalism, ideology, anti-bourgeois. Moreover,
Dada also portrayed the political controversies through art works which mostly focused on
rebellion of WWI and controversies in Germany. The use of photography in Dadaism was a
practice of avant-garde, while it was also as an opposition to the local avant-garde, German
Expressionism. In using photography as medium in, the goal was similar as a project to critique
of bourgeois concepts of high art for activist propaganda. Dadaist developed a new technique of
photomontage which developed from previous practices of collages and typography. As a
strategy of avant-garde work, photomontage initially had been developed since 1890s as a design
technique for advertising. It exposed and ridicule the ideological function in order to
problematize the commodity and its signs where Dadaist want to maintain the power of
advertisings allure over society. It is also as a mockery of Cubisms aestheticized and a political
approach to the emerging power of mass-cultural imagery. Raoul Hausmann and John Heartfield
were the key figures of photomontage. They drew inspiration from this technique by identified
the picture postcards soldiers as their cues. Photomontage represent the desire to construct a
new type of art object. The techniques aim to reach an emerging working-class audience and
convey the political message clearly. The context mostly focused on political and social issues in
Germany as well as Soviet. John Heartfields photomontage raised a lot of controversies around
Germany, particularly during Nazi regime. His work Appeasement -1939 (see Fig.1) presented
the cutting photo of Hitler and French foreign minister, Bonnet. Hitler illustrated using a bloody
apron, with Nazi symbol tattoo in his hand, and holding a knife. This indicated Hitler as a dictator
accompanied with his smiling faces, seems symbolizing un-guilty feelings. While on the left side,

he chose the photo of Bonnet face that seems not disturbed or not concerned with Hitlers
dictatorship. This work was not only focused on the political satire, but also put the aspect of
humor and mockery towards Hitlers vegetarianism. Heartfield put a chicken besides Bonnet,
indicating that Hitler did not eat meat. The ironic jokes supported by the caption Hitler sharpens
his knife, preparing to kill French cockerel. Bonnet, French Foreign Minister, says: Dont be afraid,
Hitler is a vegetarian. This work used a theatrical montage technique in achieving its goals to
convey a political message. Photomontage also portrayed the political issues of Soviet as the
celebration of the Russian Constructivist Vladimir Tatlin. This suggested that Dadaist interested
in a revolutionary art that they also tried to take part for the transformation of society in Soviet
Union. The works of Raoul Hausmann Tatlin at Home 1920 (see Fig.2) represents the interest
of Dadaist add their focused on Communists party. This suggested the parallels of photomontage
in some way mechanical. Most of photomontage works focused on the shock and the alogism
which created a lot of critiques. Therefore, the focused changed to give more educated and
informative. As a result, Heartfield became one of the 1st members of the avant-garde which
portrayed propaganda.
On the other hand, Surrealist used photography as opposed to photomontage. They use different
technique of photomontages where they are no longer related with advertising. The principal of
Surrealist itself is about the power of unconsciousness that drawn inspiration from psychological
anxiety, engagement with the imaginary, and also the conditions of dream and reality. The use
of photography itself was as an automatic image which defined as psychical thought or the
mental image, since the fundamental are psychic automatism. The functions of photography
used in Surrealism is under the category of enigmatic where it refers to the type of photo that
described as surreal. This combined three modes of mimetic (normal / proper meaning of
photographs) and prophotogaphic (cinematic effects / illustration of the objects). Surrealist
played a lot of techniques of photography such as double exposures, solarization, photograms,
masking frame distortions, and Man Rays Rayographs. The variation of techniques created
Surrealist photography popular with its photographic manipulation where mostly used
overlaying or combining negatives to produced doubled images. It was embodied in Maurice
Tabard work Room with Eye -1928 (see Fig.3), where he used this techniques to present a room

with a human eye in a picture. The photograph of an empty room along with one human-eye on
the right wall supported the function of enigmatic as surreal sign, because surrealism is a practice
of treating signs. The eye as a symbol of fantasy and consciousness, while the room illustrated
the reality. It refers to the principles of surrealism, where the photograph presented the power
of unconsciousness. The meaning of this work portrayed the unconsciousness was embodied
with reality, where the eyes may symbolized the imaginary yet with respect to reality. Another
example of Surrealist photograph is Man Ray Homage to D.A.F de Sade -1930 (see Fig.4). This
work signified the element of sadism and automatists as mental image. The photograph
presented a head of a woman laying on a book inside a glass bell jar. It manipulated the viewer
through its technique manipulation of scale, exposures, and also the prophotographic functions
of photography. Surrealist also used photography for journals with a dry presentation style
indicated that photograph appeared as documents of evidences. Journals was the privileged sites
of surrealist ideology and concerned with the issues of public and ethical dimensions, while also
displayed a complex and ironic of lives.
In conclusion, Surrealist and Dadaist avant-garde works were a major experimental and
innovative projects of photography from its origins. They were managed to create a new
perspectives from a photo that are no longer as origin as what eye usually see. The techniques
of photomontages, photo manipulation, and other techniques successfully create the greatest
meaning of life through the works of Surrealist and Dadaist.

Appendix
Figure 1.
Appeasement (1930)
John Heartfield

Figure 2
Tatlin at Home (1920)
Raoul Hausmann

Figure 3
Room with eye. 1928
Maurice Tabard

Figure 4
Homage to D.A.F.de Sade. 1930
Man Ray