1: Dada as pre-conceptual art response to a changing reality

Presented by Louisemarié Rathbone& Nicholas Allen

Lecture

Topic Date

B Konseptuele kuns as spel met die werkliheid Conceptual art toying with reality

1 Eerste impulse: Dada as voor-konseptuele kunsrespons op ‘n veranderende werklikheidFirst impulses: Dada as pre-conceptual art response to a changing reality

Thursday4th June

2 Konseptuele kuns en die verdwyning van die kunswerk as objek: Waarheen nou?Conceptual art and the disappearance of the artwork as object: Quo vadis?

3 Kuns as proses in die postmoderne wêreld: Die werklikheid is vloeibaar (performances, happenings en dies meer)Art as process in the postmodern world: Reality is liquid (performances, happenings and the like)

4 ‘n Ander soort skilderdoek, ‘n ander werklikheid: Die aarde, die galery, die nie-funksioneleAnother type of canvas, another reality: The earth, the gallery, the non-functional

Leonardo da Vinci:Mona Lisa (1503).Oil on poplar panel.77 x 53cm.Louvre. Paris,France.

$ 1000 million

Stephen Sauvestre: Eiffel Tower (1889).Steel construction built for 1889 Universal Exhibition and Centennial of the French Revolution. Contracted by Gustave Eiffel and engineered by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier.Height: 300.51 meters.

Cass Gilbert: The Woolworth Building (1913).Height: 241 meters.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Great Western (1837). The first steamship in regular transatlantic service.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Great Western (1837). The first steamship in regular transatlantic service.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Great Eastern (c.1860s).The first steel ship to carry passengers on the North Atlantic routes.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Great Eastern (c.1860s).The first steel ship to carry passengers on the North Atlantic routes.

Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson: Mauretania (1907).

The RMS Titanic leaving Queenstown (Cobh ) 11 April 1912.

The sinking of the Lusitania,7 May 1915.

The Rumpler Taube Aircraft (c. 1911)

The Zeppelin (c. 1914)

The Mark 1 Tank (c. 1915)

WWI USA Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

WWI German Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

WWI British Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

WWI British Propaganda:Anti German Poster

WWI USA Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

WWI British Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

WWI USA Propaganda:Enlistment Poster

The term: “Dada” was coined in Zurich in 1916

Richard Huelsenbeck & Hugo Ball Russian: Yes -Yes Romanian: Yes - Yes German: There -There French: Hobby Horse Universal: Baby talk

Origins of DadaOrigins of Dada French / German Sculptor: Jean Arp Romanian poet & activist: Tristan Tzara Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich Romanian Sculptor: Marcel Janco German painter and film-maker: Hans

Richter German artist & activist: Hannah Höch Dutch poet: Theo van Doesburg

Other PioneersOther Pioneers Morton Livingston Schamberg (1881 - 1918) Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitsky) (1890 –1976) Emmy Hennings (1885 – 1948) Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) Francis Picabia (1879-1953) Max Ernst (1891-1976) Paul Éluard (Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 –

1952) Andre Breton (1887-1948) Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)  

Richard Huelsenbeck

1892 - 1974

En avant Dada.Die Geschichte des Dadaismus (Forward Dada. The History of Dadaism) (1920).

Birribum

Hugo Ball

1892 - 1974

For us, art is not an end in itself ... but it is an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in.

Hugo Ball

Hugo Ball performing atthe Cabaret Voltaire c. 1916

Hugo Ball performing atthe Cabaret Voltaire c. 1916

Karawane (1916).

Tristan Tzara

Samuel Rosenstock

1896 - 1963

DaDa1 (1917).Cover of the first editionof the publication Dada.

Science says we are the servants of nature: everything is in order,make love and bash your brains in.

Carry on, my children, humanity, kind bourgeois and journalist virgins …

I am against systems, the most acceptable system is on principle to have none.

To complete oneself, to perfect oneself in one's own littleness, to fill the vessel with one's individuality, to have the courage to fight for and against thought, the mystery of bread, the sudden burst of an infernal propeller into economic lilies....

Every product of disgust capable of becoming a negation of the family is

Dada …

Dada; a protest with the fists of its whole being engaged in destructive action:

Dada; knowledge of all the means rejected up until now by the shamefacedsex of comfortable compromise and good manners:

Dada; abolition of logic, which is the dance of those impotent to create:

Dada; of every social hierarchy and equation set up for the sake of values by our valets:

Dada; every object, all objects, sentiments, obscurities,apparitions and the precise clash of parallel lines are weapons for the fight:

Dada; abolition of memory: Dada; abolition of archaeology: Dada; abolition of prophets: Dada; abolition of the future:

Dada; absolute and unquestionable faith in every god that is the immediate product of spontaneity:

Another characteristic of Dada is the continuous breaking offof our friends. They are always breaking off and resigning.

The first to tender his resignation from the Dada movement was myself.

Everybody knows that Dada is nothing.

I broke away from Dada and from myself as soon as I understood the implications of nothing.

Like everything in life, Dada is useless.

Perhaps you will understand me better when I tell you that Dada is a virgin microbe that penetrates with the insistence of air into all the spaces that reason has not been able to fill with words or conventions.

Marcel Janco

1895 - 1984

We had lost confidence in our culture. Everything had to be demolished. We would begin again after the "tabula rasa". At the Cabaret Voltaire we began by shocking common sense, public opinion, education, institutions, museums, good taste, in short, the whole prevailing order.

Marcel Janco

Les tablettes (1918).Lithograph.15.5 x 19.5 cm. 

Guillaume Apollinaire

Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky

1880 - 1918

"Salut monde dont je suis la langue éloquente que sa bouche O Paris tire et tirera toujours aux allemands."

Theo van Doesburg

1883 - 1931

Poster for a Dada soirée (c.1923)

Kurt Schwitters

1887 - 1948

Anna Blume, Dichtungen (1919).

Described as “a parody of a love poem,an emblem of the chaos and madnessof the era, and as a harbinger of a newpoetic language.”

First line reads:

"Oh Du, Geliebte meiner 27 Sinne" (Oh, thou most beloved of my 27 senses)

Merz Bau (c. 1919 -1937).Construction built within eightrooms in his house at No. 5 Waldhausenstraße.Hannover, Germany.

Destroyed during WWII.

Merz Bau (c. 1919 -1937).Construction built within eightrooms in his house at No. 5 Waldhausenstraße.Hannover, Germany.

Destroyed during WWII.

Merz Bau (c. 1919 -1937). Construction built within eightrooms in his house at No. 5 Waldhausenstraße. Hannover, Germany. Destroyed during WWII.

Raoul Hausmann

1886 - 1971

The Art Critic (1919). Collage – photomontage.

Mechanical Head(Spirit of Our Age) (c. 1920).Hairdresser’s wigmaking dummy, crocodile wallet,ruler, pocket watch mechanism and case, bronze segment of old camera, typewriter cylinder, segment of measuring tape, collapsible cup, the number “22,” nails and bolt32.5 x 21 x 20 cm,Centre Pompidou, Paris,France.

Self-portrait of the Dadasopher(1920).Collage – photomontage.

Tatlin At Home (1920).

Collage - photomontage.

Dada Cino (1920).Collage – photomontage.

Dada Conquers (1920).Collage – photomontage.

Hanna Höch

1889 - 1978

Cut with the Dadakitchen knife throughthe last Weimar beer-belly culturalepoch in Germany 1(1919).Collage of pasted papers.90 x 144 cm.Staatliche Museum, Berlin.

Jean Arp

Hans Arp

1886 - 1966

Collage with Squares Arranged According to the Laws of Chance,1916-17,Torn-and-pasted paper on blue-grey paper,48.5 x 34.6 cm.

Shirt Front and Fork, (1922).Painted wood.National Gallery of Art,London,United Kingdom.

Francis Picabia

1879 - 1953

Machine, tournez vite (1916).Tempera on paper. 49 x 32 cm

Parade Amoureuse (1917).Oil on cardboard.95 x 72 cm.Private collection.

Portrait de Cézanne (1920).Mixed media.

Marcel Duchamp

1887 - 1968

I believe that the artist doesn't know what he does.

I attach even more importance to the spectator than to the artist.

Marcel Duchamp

Landscape at Blainville (1902).Oil on canvas.61 x 50 cm.Private collection.

Portrait de joueurs d'echecs (1911).Oil on canvas.108 x 101 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Nu descendant un escalier No.2. (1912).Oil on canvas.147.5 x 89 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Le Passage de la Vierge à la Mariée (1912).Oil on canvas.59 x 53.5 cm.The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.

Mariée (c. 1913).Oil on canvas.89.5 x 55.25 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Neuf moules mâlic (1914-15). Oil, lead wire, lead foil on glass between two glass plates. 64 x 102 cm. Private collection.

Broyeuse de chocolat no. 2 1914,Oil and thread on canvas.65 x 54 cm. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA

La Grande Verre(The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even)(1915/23). Oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire and dust in two glass plates mounted with aluminum, wood and steel frames. 272.5 x 175.8 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

La Grande Verre(The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even)(1915/23). Oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire and dust in two glass plates mounted with aluminum, wood and steel frames. 272.5 x 175.8 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

La Grande Verre(The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even)(1915/23). Oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire and dust in two glass plates mounted with aluminum, wood and steel frames. 272.5 x 175.8 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Note autographe pour Le Grand Verre: la cravate devra son élégance…, (1912-15).

Untitled (1913). Ink and pencil on paper. Private collection.

The bride stripped bare by her bachelors even: (The Green Box) (1934).Felt-covered cardboard box containing one colour plate and 94 paper elements. Tate Gallery, London.

The Box of 1914 (1914). Photographic facsimiles of 16 manuscript notes and theDrawing: To have the apprentice in the sun (1914), mounted on matboards, each c. 24 x 18cm, contained in a commercial photographic supply box. Edition of 5.Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection

Rrose Sélavy:

Alter ego ofMarcel Duchamp.

Roue de bicyclette (1913).Readymade: bicycle wheel.diameter 64.8 cm, mounted on a stool, 60.2 cm high.Original lost. Replica.Private collection.

Roue de bicyclette.

Egouttoir (Porte-bouteilles) (1914/64). Readymade: bottle rack made of galvanized iron. 59 x 37 cm. Original lost. Replica.Private collection.

In advance of the broken arm (1915).Readymade: show shovel, wood and galvanized iron. 121.3 cm.Yale Center for British Art,New Haven, CT, USA.

With hidden noise (1916). Readymade: Ball of string between two brass plates held together by four screws. 12.9 x 13 x 11.4 cm.The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

La Fontaine (1917/1964). Readymade: porcelain urinal. 23.5 x 18 x 60 cm.Private collection.

La Fontaine (1917/1964). Readymade: porcelain urinal. 23.5 x 18 x 60 cm.Private collection.

Tu m‘ (1918). Oil on canvas, with bottle brush, three safety pins, and one bolt.69.8 x 303 cm. Gift from the Estate of Katherine S. Dreier (1953).

L.H.O.O.Q.,1919,Graffiti on Postcard ofthe Mona Lisa and the Caption: L.H.O.O.Q.,19.64 x 12 cm.Private Collection.

$ 66 million

L.H.O.O.Q., 1920/42, rectified readymade (made by Francis Picabia), 23.8 x 18.8 cm,Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York.

$ 1 million

Unhappy Readymade.

A set of instructions for exposinga geometry textbook

to the elementsfor a designated period of time.

Andre Breton

1887 - 1948

54 rue du Chateau Andre Breton et al Poems Images c.1918 – 1925 “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin

nouveau.”

"The dormitory of friable little girlsputs the odious box right.“

"The Senegal oyster will eatthe tricolour bread."

Cadavre Exquis Cadavre Exquis

The completely black light lays down day and night the powerless suspension to do any good.

The anaemic young girl got the waxed mannequins turned red.

Monsieur Poincaré, if you want, kisses on the mouth, with a peacock feather, in an ardour I never saw before,the late Monsieur de Borniol.

The made-up shrimp hardly enlightens some double kisses.

Rue Mouffetard, love-shivering, amuses the chimera who shoots at us.

The very moved Pathos, thanks singing the bullet of chopped vetiver between Line and Prâline.

Caraco is a beautiful whore: lazy as a doormouse and glass-gloved for doing nothing, she strings pearls with the turkeys of the farce.

Man Ray, Joan Miró, Max Morise and Yves Tanguy:Nude (1926-27). Composite drawing of ink, pencil, and crayon on paper.

André Breton, Max Morise,Pierre Naville, Benjamin Péret, Jacques Prévert, Jeannette andYves Tanguy:Cadavre Exquis (1928). Composite collage of cut-and-pasted printed paper on paper.

Man Ray

Emmanuel Radnitsky

1890 - 1976

The rope dancer accompanies herself with her shadows (1915–16).Oil on canvas.132.1 x 186.4 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA.

Man Ray (assisted by Erik Satie):Cadeau (1921).Ready-made: Iron with 14 furniture tacks glued to its sole.Original lost.

Max Ernst

1891 - 1976

Fruit of a Long Experience (1919).Painted wood relief. 45.7 x 38 cm. Private collection.

Family Excursions (c. 1919).Oil on canvas.36 x 26 cm.Narodni Gallery,Prague, Czechia.

Aquis submersus (1919). Oil on canvas.54 x 43.8 cm. Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie,Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany.

Celebes, 1921.Oil on canvas.