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By Robert A. Schaefer, Jr. | Sep 7, 2006

Dada has come to New York City with a huge exhibition at the Museum ofModern Art (http://www.moma.org) as well as several galleries in theNew York City Area.

Perhaps the better title for this article would be “Was ist Dada? (“What is Dada?”) or the Dutch version in Theo Van Doesburg’s “Wat is Dada?”  Why would these be better?  It seems that isthe question going around New York is just what Dada actuallymeans.  For those depending on a clear, precise definitionsupplied by a guide or tape at the Museum, Dada may prove to be moredifficult.

Unlike impressionism or expressionism, Dada as one of Tristan Tzara andPaul Eluard’s Dada Fliers says: “Dada ne signnifie Rien.” (“Dadadoesn’t mean any thing.”) Hence those desiring an easy fix of what itis or what one is supposed to see, interpret and understand may need totake a deep breath and actually provide a meaning themselves.  Itis obviously taken seriously or it would not have survived itsbeginnings in not one, but six major cities—Zürich, Berlin, Paris,Cologne, New York and Hannover in the years 1919 to 1924.  
 
However, when I visited the Dada Exhibition at the Museum of ModernArt, much of the visitors’ response to the Dada works was raucouslaughter. Marcel Duchamp bears a lot of responsibility for such aseemingly  irreverent response.   His version of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa sports a moustache and goatee.  There is anold-fashioned urinal as well as a bicycle wheel attached to astool.  Whimsical, meaningless, perhaps,  as many texts pointout—the work shows that Dadaists were interested in getting away fromserious discussions and deep, hidden meanings about art.  Afterall, they had just been through the First World War and its horrors andneeded a way to lighten up.

1916 is cited as the year Dada began in the unlikely city ofZurich, Switzerland.  Café Voltaire is rumored to have combinedvarious types such as draft-dodgers, pacifists, political immigrantsand intellectual expatriates.  Hugo
Ballis viewed as the mainperson along with his girlfriend Emmy Hennings, whom he met in Munichduring the same year.  Samuel Rosenstock, better known as TristanTzara—along with Marcel Janco, both from highly assimilatedJewish families in Rumania—joined them in the cabaret activities at theCafé.  According to another member Richard Hulsenbeck, “Dada was acollective struggle for individual rights.  It was not interestedin providing moral justification for political activism or for thatmatter, any political system.  The Dadaist knows that moralstruggle is individual; man must arrive at his own decisions, his ownvalues.”  

The actual word dada; however, has different meanings in differentlanguages: it is a "crazy narrative" in German, "rocking horse" in Frenchandpossibly most defined in Rumanian as "yes, yes." As Hugo Ball becametired of heading the group, Café Voltaire closed in the same year itopened, and Tristan Tzara took over the helm.  He was interestedin expanding Dada beyond Zurich. The Premier Exposition of Dadawas held in Zurich in 1917, and additional new members like SophieTauber provided dance, Hans Arp (later her husband), exhibited abstractwooden reliefs, and Hans Richter (just returned from combat on thefront in World War I), produced mask paintings and films. (There is aone-person exhibition of Richter’s work at the Maya Stendhal Gallerylocated at 545 West 20th Street in New York City through September16th. For more information:http://www.mayastendhalgallery.com).

 
Christian Schad produced photo grams which were some of the firstabstract photographs.  However, by 1920, the group of Dadaists hadprimarily dispersed—Taza to Paris, Hulsenbeck to Berlin, and Richterto his parents in Klein-Koetzig with another filmmaker Eggeling.Hugo Ball had retired to a small Swiss village, and only Janco andArp remained in Zurich.

The Dada Movement was brought from Zurich to Berlin by RichardHulsenbeck in 1917.  He collaborated with George Grosz andHeartfeld to publish the Neue Jugend  (New Youth), which was apublication about the Dada Movement.  The Dada Movement inBerlin had political overtones as seen in the work by George Grosz.


One of the earliest Dada speeches declared its newness, esthetic andopposition to cubism, futurism and most of all expressionism.  Itwas described as “perfectly lighthearted malice, and  alongsideexact photography,  the only legitimate pictorial form ofcommunication and balance in shared experience.”

A new invention in Berlin Dada was that of the Photomontage (note thatin this case it meant cutting out images and pasting them onto a piecebeing created) by Raoul Hausmann and Hannna Hoech in 1918.  One ofher photomontages speaks to the lack of specificity of the DadaMovement with a text in the piece sayingl, “He, he junger Mann, Dadaist  keine Kunstrichtung (Ha, ha young  man, Dada isnot  an art movement.)

This discovery of Photomontage by Hausmann and Hoech was disputedby George Grosz, who gave himself and John Heartfeld credit for thediscovery of the Photomontage in his Suedende Studio at 5:00 am in May,1916.  Herzfeld included a dog food advertisement in one of hisphotomontages.  Perhaps this concept was an influence on AndyWarhol, who introduced Cambell’s soup and Brillocleaning products as art in the 1960s.

 
In Berlin, Walter Benjamin—who later emigrated to the United States andtaught at The New School in New York—said that “Dadaismattempted to produce with means of the painting of literature theeffects which the public today seeks in film.”

When the Berlin Dada Group began to fall apart, Raoul Hausmannwent to Prague, and Theo Van Doesburg to the Netherlands where hecollaborated with Hans Arp and El Lissitsky, who produced someexceptional experimental photographs.

In Hannover, Germany, Kurt Schwitters was a trained painter whobecame a late bloomer in the Dada Movement with his collages for whichhe adopted the term “Merz.” (Derived from Kommerz andPrivatbank).  However, Hannover was not a center for Dada likeBerlin or Zurich. In 1921 Hausmann, Hoech, Schwitters and his wifeHelena undertook a second Dada tour to Prague.

Dada came to Cologne, Germany in 1919 and offered its own contributionsto the movement.  They were more explicit than implicit and mainlyimplemented by four artists: Max Ernst who is better known for hissurreal work which came later, Heinrich Hoele who produced DieKripplemappe (Cripple Portfolio, portraits of physically-challengedsubjects), his wife Angelika Hoele who was the only woman in this groupof male artists (a crossroads of female roles in the 1920’s), andJohannes Baargeld (actually a pseudonym for Alfred Grünwald) whoincorporated his own body into his work.  

 
In order to enter Cologne’s Dada Early Spring Exhibition visitors hadto walk past the men’s toilets while a girl in a communion dressrecited bawdy poetry.  Max Ernst’s participation in thisexhibition created a huge split between him and his father, who was adevout catholic.  Perhaps the exhibition should have used FrankWedekind’s very controversial (especially since it was written in1891) tragi-comedic play; “Spring’s Awakening” for its title.  TheEarly Spring Exhibition was closed down by police on the grounds ofobscenity.  When it was discovered that the work in question byMax Ernst was a print of Albrecht Dürer’s “Adam + Eve,” it was reopened.

One of the key artists in the New York Dada Movement was Marcel Duchamp,who submitted a white urinal for inclusion in the exhibition of theSociety of Independent Artists.  Although the exhibition was saidto be “jury-free,” the urinal with the signature of R. Mott on the bowl (aka Duchamp) was rejected.

New York art patrons—particularly of the Dada Movement—Louise andWalter Arensberg had an incredible art collection on view in theirapartment, located at 33 West 67th Street from 1915 to 1921.  Oneof their frequent visitors was Joseph Stella who said, “Dada meanshaving a good time—the theatre, the dance, the dinner.  But itis a movement that does away with everything that has always been takenseriously. To poke fun at, to break down, to laugh at, that isDadaism.”  Walter Arensberg’s cousin John Covert was a Dada artistwho remained loyal to oil painting despite attacks on oil painting byMarcel Duchamp.  Covert affixed three dimensional elements such aswooden dowels, string and nails to his paintings to enliven theirsurfaces.  However, his most unique contribution to the DadaMovement was a series of gelatin silver photographs titled “WaterBabies.”  German artist Hans Bellmer mahy have been influenced bythese photographs in creating his sculptures titled Le Poupee.

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Covert won a scholarship from theGerman government and studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste (TheAcademy of Fine Arts) in Munich from 1909 to 1912.  He then movedto Paris where he was often accosted because of his “German”accent.  In 1915 he moved to New York and met Marcel Duchampthrough Louise and Walter Arensberg.  He and Duchamp formed TheSociety of Independent Artists in 1916.

Katherine Dreier went to Cologne after the War (She was German-Americanand had established contact with her family in Bremen).  It wasthere where she saw the work of Max Ernst and decided it had to be seen inNew York.  Upon her return to New York she established the SociéteAnonyme, Inc.—Duchamp was president, Man Ray was secretary, and Dreierwas treasurer.  The first exhibition was the work of Max Ernst andit was followed by an exhibition of Kurt Schwitters' work.


Alfred Stieglitz was very involved with the Dada Movement and exhibitedthe Dada artist Francis Picabia in his 292 Gallery, who declared hisintention of bringing the machine to his studio.

In 1921 Duchamp and Man Ray put togetherNew York Dada Magazine, whichwas a shift from painting to photography, photomontage, graphics andfilm.  Man Ray’s multiple  exposures are examples of truephotomontage whereby those of Berlin Dadaists are in reality collagesof photographs since they are cut and pasted.  This year alsosignaled somewhat of an end for New York Dada because Man Ray andMarcel Duchamp left for Paris where Man Ray began working withphotograms (placing objects on top of  photo sensitive paper,exposing it to light and developing it) which he termed “Rayograms.”

Dada came to Paris in 1920, and it was more literary in its emphasis asin the works by Tristian Tzara and André Breton.  The visual Dadaartists were Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picaba and ManRay.  It began with live performances—public Fridaygatherings.  Music was provided by Groupe des Six, and Eric Satiewas the head figure.

 
The Salon Dada Exhibition in June of 1921 was the final show of Dada’sheyday.  The audience walked out of Tristan Tzara’s new play “Lecour á glas” (The glass heart). Duchamp produced a drawing of a check for $115.00 to his dentistfor dental work—reducing art to a monetary value. Unfortunately, artists no longer wanted to be a part of the very pubicstage of Dadaism and preferred to be more private in the new directionof surrealism.

 
I hope you will be able to experience the Dada Exhibition at the Museumof Modern Art or the Hans Richter Exhibition at the Maya StendhalGallery in Chelsea. It has been refreshing that the general public inNew York City has been interested in discovering  Dada.  Thegood news is that they basically  had to figure it out forthemselves, and subsequently realized that they would be able todo that for any art direction.





1.  Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, Paris byLeah Dickerman, Brigid Doherty, Dorothea Dietrich, Sabine T. Kriebel,Distributed Art Publishers, New York, November 15, 2005

2. Masters of Modern Art by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., distributed by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1954

3. The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, Second Edition by Jack D. Flam, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, April 14, 2005
____________________________________________________________________
Robert A. Schaefer, Jr. is a founding member of Photoworkshop.com, andhas been a fine-art photographer for over thirty years. His work isdisplayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as theBibliothéque Nationale in Paris, France. In 1999—2000 he had a 25-yearretrospective of his work at the Huntsville Museum of Art inHuntsville, Alabama, his home state. His exhibition, Two Sides of theCoin—which deals with his German family and the Holocaust—was held atthe DeFrog Gallery in Houston, TX in March, April and May as a part ofFotofest.  Currently he is part of a group exhibition called“Amendicons,” which looks at the crisis in the Middle East.  It wasat the Makor Gallery, and will open on Thursday, September 8th at theHaven Art Gallery in the Bronx, NY. (www.amendicons.blogspot.com).  Schaefer writes about photographyforDouble Exposure,Fotophile Magazine in New York City andThe PhotoReview in Pennsylvania. He has taught at The New School and givenworkshops at Pratt Institute in New York and is currently on thefaculty at New York University.
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You can contact Robert Schaefer atrasjrpro@earthlink.net or visit his website athttp://www.schaeferphoto.com.


 























 


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