Crisis and the Arts: The History of Dada - Assignment Example

Question 1

This photomontage created by Hannah Hoch dubbed "Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany" mirrors her opinion of the social and political issues that came about during the post-World War II period, a transitional period in Germany at that time, which had been a key participant in the war. The Second World War, which Germany eventually lost, had absorbed all its attention for nearly five years, and the aftermath was a state of political instability and chaos. Within Germany, there was political instability that saw two groups struggle for power in a rather unconventional way: a new left-wing communist political movement referred to as the Spartacists was clashing with the traditional Weimar Government.

The creator's title for this work demonstrates her criticism of the "heavy-handed and bloated" feature of the male-dominated German military and the Weimer Republic. Hoch opts to provide specifications, for instance, "as kitchen knife" as well as "beer belly," to clearly insinuate that her work is a social observation concerning gender issues in post-war Germany (Bergius 2003). The movement to which the creator of the work belongs intended to critically assess German culture through accentuating the negative aspects in the society. Hoch cut out pieces of text and images found in journals, newspapers, advertisements and magazines. Hoch then meticulously patched them together in a manner that made sense to her.

Artists associated with the Dada movement used photomontage to post critiquing messages that suppression would not permit to be expressed in words, as explained by Grosz George, where he claimed that "Cut with the Kitchen Knife…" possesses a feeling of hurried progress depicted through a satirical and mocking tone. Different machine pieces have been posted all over the montage to denote a thriving culture and business within the given urban region. This thriving progress has not been portrayed in a dignified, exciting and proud manner nonetheless, but rather a circus-like context. The mood is quirky to the point of ludicrousness, with dramatic body language and theatrical expressions combined with imageries of political figures doubling up as a critique of the political system with the new left-wing communist establishment opposing the old Weimer Political Party.

Scholars such as Dr. Juliana Kreinik have attempted to find appropriate methods of simplifying the Hoch's photomontage by dividing this work into four different segments. Juliana referred the upper left corner of this photomontage as "Dada Propaganda". She named the section below it on the lower left corner as "Dada Persuasion". The adjacent side of the lower right corner was referred to as the "Dada world" or "Dadaists" whereas the section above it on the upper right-hand side was named "Anti-Dadaists." The middle of this work has an image that seems to contain the leader of Kathe Kollwitz, an expressionist from Germany, whose image floats above its dancer body. The dynamism of the Kathe Kollwitz illustration appears to connect to the pandemonium surrounding it and provides a sense of revolution and movement to the very busy photomontage (Lavin 1993).

The photomontage's upper left corner section named as "Dada Propaganda" contains a huge head of the world-renowned scientists – Albert Einstein, outlined by two German newsprints offcuts that translate to "spend your money wisely in Dada!." and the other one translating to "ha, young individual…Dada is not trendy art." Towards the right side of the renowned scientists, offcut is the leader of Friedrich Ebert pinned upon a body of a female performer that seems to be topless. The "Dada Persuasion" section which lies directly below the "Dada Propaganda" section is covered with images of large groups of people. From the midst of these large groups of individuals emerges Karl Lieknetcht – a renowned leader of Germany's communist party. However, this controversial leader was executed right after his arrest in 1919 because of his participation in the Spartacist revolt. Another offcut placed right next to his mouth bears the words "Join Dada!"

The Anti-Dadaist segment contains many different political figures observed through the artist's mocking and satirical eyes. Most noticeable is the huge head of a prominent politician called Keiser Wilhelm II, a famous activist cum politician who bears a huge responsibility for his role in influencing Germany's participation in World War I. Keiser Wilhelm II mustachio is substituted with two pairs of brawling legs spurting from both of his nostrils. Directly below Wilhelm's offcut is the leader of General Hindenburg placed next to a belly dancer's body. The artist incorporated most of her female Dadaist associates in the opposite right bottom side, which Dr. Juliana referred to as Dada world. It is this fact that prompted her to name this section so, noting that nearly all the offcuts presented in this section were her colleagues. Hoch placed both heads of Wielande Herzfelde and George Grosz – both belonging to the Dada movement – together on a ballerina's body. Lenin's head, Karl Radek – Germany's communist party leader and Johannes Baader – a fellow Dadaist seem parodied atop small performers' bodies.

At the bottom right-hand corner of this great works of art is a clue left by Hoch; a map demonstrating European countries during this period where in some instances, they were authorised to exercise their voting rights. This clue prompts the to remember Hoch's interests in highlighting inequality and gender issues within the art world a depicted by Dadaists, and not just in these two areas but in the whole word. Hoch makes use of gender this particular photomontage to tease the viewers' opinion and generate contrasting and at times mystifying messages. Hoch combines the heads of good looking showgirls and female dancer's bodies with the heads of prominent politicians to enervate them and strip them off their influence and power. This photomontage piece of art gained Hoch much attention, and popularised the artist around the world, becoming one of her prominent and most referred to works of art. The "Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany" represents the mending of the German society after the end of the First World War (WWI), and the artistic, political and social hypocrisies that occurred in this period.

Question 4

The Henry VIII's palace of Nonsuch image shows the towers and the gilded spires of the lost palace of Henry VIII, an expensive, grand and attractive work that it was launched, Nonsuch. In reality, the palace itself was developed at a huge cost I the year 1538 near Ewell, in Surrey, to outperform the other palaces that had been developed by King Henry's rival – Francois I, the then outspoken French King. Henry VIII's palace of Nonsuch lasted nearly 150 years and was later brought down towards the end of the 17th Century. The resultant debris and the materials got within the palace were traded for building materials to pay debts that had accrued as a result of gambling of a king's mistress.

The Henry VIII's palace of Nonsuch image has been preserved in an English private collection safe for nearly two hundred years, only being brought to the public limelight on only two occasions. Scholars such as Benjamin Peronnet have described the painting of the Henry VIII's palace of Nonsuch an exciting and an exceptionally rare picture. It not only represents the earliest forms of British watercolours style but is also an artwork of immense beauty, said to be one of the most precise illustrative records of King Henry VIII's great commission.

According to Richardson (2003), the painting shows the plan of the palace from a side elevation. The plan was quite simple, with outer courtyards reinforced with a gatehouse. The northern part of the palace was reinforced in an old style, different from the southern face, which had Baroque Renaissance decoration, with corner towers at every end of the octagonal towers. It is said that "Spem in Allum," one of Thomas Tallis' masterwork was premiered in one of these towers. Unconfirmed reports indicate that a motet of forty voices separated into eight units of five-member strong groups took positions in one balcony of the available eight in one tower and performed the piece, much to the amazement of the audience sitting below.

Question 5

The Lampedusa Cross was constructed by an Italian carpenter called Mr Francesco Tuccio, a native working and living on the Lampedusa Island. The Lampedusa Cross was created from boat wreckage that capsized off the Lampedusa coast in 2013. The boat was transporting religious refugees from Somalia and Eritrea. Reports indicate that the boat was carrying approximately 500 individuals when the boat suddenly caught fire and subsequently capsized, killing nearly 360 people unable to be saved on time. A good number of the survivors were from the Eritrean Christian denomination and were running away from religious clashes that saw hundreds of Christians and Muslims alike killed in what seemed like a religious cleansing activity.

The carpenter – Mr Tuccio had a meeting with some of the survivors in the San Gerlando church and interacted with them extensively (McMahon 2012). His continuous encounter with these refugees only made him more frustrated for he was not able to make any positive difference to changing their situation. As a result, the carpenter used his prowess and decided to make crosses from the timber that he collected from the wreckage of the boat. These crosses stood for salvation; a sign of hope for the future. The BM (British Museum) on hearing about Mr Tuccio's crosses contacted him and subsequently acquired one for the collection.

Everywhere in the world, museums stand as a mirror of the society around us. Therefore, the cross in the British Museum represents activities in the society around our society. Migrants and refugees possess nothing significant, and therefore seem to be somewhat invisible within the record. Therefore, one way of looking at this is that the cross symbolizes a record of emptiness, and primarily of refugees. What the cross records is a strictly thin perspective of the experiences of the refugees. It additionally symbolizes the appalling human catastrophes that have befallen the immigrants and refugees as they try to find ways of crossing into Europe from Africa. This can, therefore, be seen as one of the main reasons why the British Museum collected the cross, to be able to tell this story in future about the happenings and the plight of the refugees trying to cross into Europe.

The explanation above can be developed to further probe the social, economic, political and religious conditions in the immigrants and refugees countries of origin. The survivors claimed that they were fleeing economic hardships from their respective countries, some fleeing from religious persecutions, particularly in Eritrea. The situation was so bad during that period that the easiest way escapes these hardships was to risk everything and board an overcrowded boat and battle the raging waters than to remain behind. It tells a story many times untold about the suffering and hardships that people go through in life. Therefore, from another perspective, the cross stands witness to the hardships that humanity encounters, as well as the kindness reciprocated by the same humanity (this time being the people of Lampedusa) who have always tried to assist such people year in year out.

In this narrative, we can relate with the assistive individuals of the Lampedusa, and feel sad for the people who lost their lives during that incident and addressed the plight of the refugees and all the people in such circumstances in the world. However, there is another perspective to the narrative; one that paints a very bad picture of the uncooperativeness of the European States that were reluctant to react swiftly to save the lives of more than one hundred and fifty individuals, and the unwelcoming gesture from these countries that subsequently followed these events.