Hannah Hoch, one of the few woman artists of her time, was a vital catalyst for the growth of Dadaism and the recognition of females in art. Throughout her career, Hoch bore oppression against her artistic statements and against her gender. In spite of this, she emerged from oppression with much of her work still intact and with an extensive pool of experience to draw her future compositions from. The body of her work deals with a variety of themes, but focuses a great deal on the absurdity of stereotypical images of women from her era.
Hoch was born in 1889, in Gotha, Germany. At the age of 23, she moved to Berlin and enrolled in Kunstqewerberschule to study glass design and later moved onto studying graphics at Staatlichen Lehranstalt des Kunstgewerbermuseums. While in school, Hoch connected with famed German Dadaist, Raoul Hausmann, and became involved with the Dada movement. After graduation, Hoch continued her avant-garde work in the evenings while supporting herself by designing elaborate embroidery patterns for women’s magazines – the same magazines from which she derived many of the images utilized in her work. In 1918, Hoch banded together with Hausmann and a group of contemporary writers and Dadaists – including Johannes Baader, Franz Jung and Gerhard Priess – to form Club Dada. The group led the Dada movement in Berlin with a variety of expositions and events such as the First International Dada Fair in 1920 and the ironically named Anti-Dada Merz Tour in 1921. Hoch was the only female member of Club Dada and was often the only female “performer” at Dada events.
In addition to being one of the only female Dadaists of her time, Hoch’s style of Dada varied greatly from her male counterparts. Both used photomontage as their primary medium, and created their work in opposition to the political and moral ideals that they rebelled against. However, while most Dadaists created images that were blatantly inflammatory to the viewer, Hoch’s compositions were much more subtle and relied upon gentle irony and restrained mockery to convey her powerful messages. This could have stemmed from Hoch’s personal stylistic choice or from the fact that women at that time were discouraged from boldly speaking their minds and had to rely on more reserved ways to express themselves. Hoch also disembarked from her contemporaries by disregarding gravity, scale, elements traditional composition, and continuity in her work, while many others were composing their arrangements in classic styles with centralized figures on a stage or backdrop underneath or behind them. This classic style of composition can be observed in Hoch’s early work, but she quickly dispensed with it in favor of the inventive, new style with few rules.
Hoch continued to disregard rules and diverge from the pack throughout the rest of her life. After her highly productive and most well known period of art making during and just after WWI, Hoch continued honing her craft. Through the decades, Hoch’s work evolved from photomontage eventually into painting and even a combination of the two. Her work progressed from compositions including recognizable images to increasingly abstract images with little or no identifiable elements within them. She even became interested in photo realistic painting much later in life. However, her composition of the photorealisitic elements are still juxtaposed and seemingly pasted together in the same style as her very early photomontages.
An example of her work, a painting entitled “Roma”, was painted in 1925 after a trip to Italy. It is oil on canvas and is 90 x 106 cm. This painting is an example of Hoch’s transition from Dada photomontage to the Realism movement. Hoch painted it using techniques and styles characteristic of Realism, but the overall composition is truly Dada. The individual images in the painting appear pasted together – reminiscent of Hoch’s earlier collages. Furthermore, the underlying statement of the piece – an attack on Mussolini – is purveyed in the Dada style with Danish actress, Asta Nielsen ordering Mussolini off the canvas with an extended arm. This piece is demonstrative of Hoch’s body of work for its powerful commentary veiled beneath playfully ironic images.
Roma is intensely interesting, both visually and politically. The composition is dynamic and full of movement. The road in the lower left corner, Asta Nielsen’s arm and the shadow of her arm all direct the viewer’s attention left and draw the eye back to the right by stirring up curiosity in the viewer as to what Hoch is directing attention away from. Play between positive and negative space, as well careful attention to balance give the piece unity in spite of the juxtaposition of a myriad of images. An actress ordering a powerful political leader out of his own city is ironic and makes the painting fun at the same time as it makes the painting a serious political statement.
While as early as 1931, she had already been forgotten about as one of the founders of Dadaism and photomontage, in the latter part of the century, many progressive and politically minded photographers and artists have looked back to her work for inspiration. In fact, many of the concepts behind the “new feminist” artwork of the 1970’s and 1980’s had already been thoroughly explored by Hoch sixty years earlier. Her struggle to make photomontage and collage – considered minor art forms and “lacking the heroism of painting and sculpture and even photography” – a well respected art form while at the same time, using it to express her distaste for the Nazi regime and its oppression of women is truly admirable. Hoch’s work is indispensable as a direct link to the early days of Dada and feminism.
Reference:
- Gale, Matthew. Dada & Surrealism. Phaidon Press Limited. London: 1997. Donahue, Marla. “Ahead of Her Time, German Artist Challenged Accepted Social Values.”; Christian Science Monitor Online. 10 Sep. 1997. 31 Jan 2001 </” >www.csmonitor.com>;. Rosenblum, Naomi. A History of Women Photographers. Abbeville Press Publishers. New York: 1994. Rotors, Eberhard. Berlin 1910-1933. Wellfleet Press. Secaucus, NJ: 1982. Sante, Luc. “Dada’s Girl: Hannah Höch thumbs her nose at art.”; Slate. 9 Apr. 1997. 31 Jan. 2001 </” >slate.msn.com>;
