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Dada changed art world
'Dada' at the National Gallery of Art explores the avant garde art movement born in the midst of World War I
Date published: 3/2/2006
By SHEILA WICKOUSKI
For THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Through the years, war has inspired art, or more specifically, anti-art move- ments. One of the edgiest ever was Dada, which emerged in the midst of World War I, first in the capital cities of Europe and then in New York.
Smart, trendy, crude, angry and outrageous, Dada was a movement of the young and the restless and like its contemporary counterparts, it is often dismissed as impulsive art with no lasting value. Indeed many critical art historians regard it as little more than a footnote or lump it together with the fantastical imagery of surrealism.
Now for the first time ever, the National Gallery of Art in Washington is presenting a blockbuster show with more than 450 works and assorted materials of 50 artists.
The premise is that Dada is an idea in itself, not just the seed of surrealism. Using a variety of media, and with strong principles but not set rules, Dada's revolutionary ideas made an irrevocable break with traditional approaches to artistic creation. The separation opened wide the possibilities of media and expression.
The entrance exhibit of "Dada" starts with grainy gray footage of World War I, to set the tone of the horror of the war that gave birth to the age of political, economic and social crisis.
Zurich, which is represented as part of the exhibit, was a neutral wartime refuge, home to political dissidents and a center for an expatriate community that included Dada artists such as Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara. In an alcove off the Zurich room, one can listen to a recording by Hugo Ball that re-creates what might have been heard in their hangout, Cabaret Voltaire.
Particularly delightful is a complete set of Sophie Taeuber's turned-wood marionettes, created for a performance meant to satirize the new field of psychology and including characters like Freud Analytikus, Dr. Komplex and the fairy Urlibido.
In Germany, Berlin and Hannover differed in their political tones and their art forms. The Berlin Club Dada group pioneered the new medium of photomontage. Hannover hosted an alternative form of Dada called "Merz," which embraced the principle of using any material at all, and spawned collages and assemblages from what we might today call "recycled materials."
British-occupied Co-logne hosted an exhibition that encouraged visitors to destroy artwork with an ax, something which might strike us as a more recent idea.
In New York, the Dadaists focused on machines and "readymade" objects. Most famous is Marcel Du-champ's "Fountain," an inverted urinal. The artist's "In Advance of the Broken Arm" is a snow shovel.
For perspective on how contemporary these ideas are, one might recall that Man Ray's "Obstruction," a series of wooden hangers, looks surprisingly familiar to the white paper hangers that recently showed at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
The Paris portion of the show is filled with articles first exhibited there, creating a feeling of what it must have been like to have actually been there for an exhibition during the Dada movement. A favorite piece is Duchamp's mockery of the icon of Renaissance art--the "Mona Lisa" with a goatee and mustache.
The Dada movement literally used anything--paint, prints, photomontage, poems--to express itself. The more ephemeral Dada experience was captured in film, of which 10 are being shown in a continuous loop in a small side theater and in a series of musical concerts the NGA has scheduled to re-enact Dada performances.
This exhibit is teasingly fun, reminding the viewer of how robust and youthful these ideas from nearly a century ago still are.
So what is the meaning of Dada? Or rather, what are the meanings, (the Dadaists delighted in employing word play to describe the linguistic divisions of the European countries at war)? For instance, Dada means "yes, yes" in Romanian and "rocking horse" or "hobby horse" in French. In German, it means "there, there" and was a sign of the foolish naivete and joy of procreation.
It may sound like a child's word, but Dada was also the brand name of a popular soap and hair tonic. The competing definitions allowed these artists to proclaim that "Dada means nothing."
For all its chaos and cacophony, the Dada movement, born out of despair and disillusionment, took one strong ethical stance--against absolute rules. To artists who have come after, Dada represents a freedom of thought and expression.
WHAT: Dada
WHERE: the National Gallery of Art East Building, on the National Mall between Third and Fourth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington
WHEN: The exhibit runs through May 14. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
COST: Free
INFO: 202/ 737-4215, nga.gov/exhibitions/ dadainfo.htm
'Dada' at the National Gallery of Art explores the avant garde art movement born in the midst of World War I
Date published: 3/2/2006
By SHEILA WICKOUSKI
For THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Through the years, war has inspired art, or more specifically, anti-art move- ments. One of the edgiest ever was Dada, which emerged in the midst of World War I, first in the capital cities of Europe and then in New York.
Smart, trendy, crude, angry and outrageous, Dada was a movement of the young and the restless and like its contemporary counterparts, it is often dismissed as impulsive art with no lasting value. Indeed many critical art historians regard it as little more than a footnote or lump it together with the fantastical imagery of surrealism.
Now for the first time ever, the National Gallery of Art in Washington is presenting a blockbuster show with more than 450 works and assorted materials of 50 artists.
The premise is that Dada is an idea in itself, not just the seed of surrealism. Using a variety of media, and with strong principles but not set rules, Dada's revolutionary ideas made an irrevocable break with traditional approaches to artistic creation. The separation opened wide the possibilities of media and expression.
The entrance exhibit of "Dada" starts with grainy gray footage of World War I, to set the tone of the horror of the war that gave birth to the age of political, economic and social crisis.
Zurich, which is represented as part of the exhibit, was a neutral wartime refuge, home to political dissidents and a center for an expatriate community that included Dada artists such as Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara. In an alcove off the Zurich room, one can listen to a recording by Hugo Ball that re-creates what might have been heard in their hangout, Cabaret Voltaire.
Particularly delightful is a complete set of Sophie Taeuber's turned-wood marionettes, created for a performance meant to satirize the new field of psychology and including characters like Freud Analytikus, Dr. Komplex and the fairy Urlibido.
In Germany, Berlin and Hannover differed in their political tones and their art forms. The Berlin Club Dada group pioneered the new medium of photomontage. Hannover hosted an alternative form of Dada called "Merz," which embraced the principle of using any material at all, and spawned collages and assemblages from what we might today call "recycled materials."
British-occupied Co-logne hosted an exhibition that encouraged visitors to destroy artwork with an ax, something which might strike us as a more recent idea.
In New York, the Dadaists focused on machines and "readymade" objects. Most famous is Marcel Du-champ's "Fountain," an inverted urinal. The artist's "In Advance of the Broken Arm" is a snow shovel.
For perspective on how contemporary these ideas are, one might recall that Man Ray's "Obstruction," a series of wooden hangers, looks surprisingly familiar to the white paper hangers that recently showed at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
The Paris portion of the show is filled with articles first exhibited there, creating a feeling of what it must have been like to have actually been there for an exhibition during the Dada movement. A favorite piece is Duchamp's mockery of the icon of Renaissance art--the "Mona Lisa" with a goatee and mustache.
The Dada movement literally used anything--paint, prints, photomontage, poems--to express itself. The more ephemeral Dada experience was captured in film, of which 10 are being shown in a continuous loop in a small side theater and in a series of musical concerts the NGA has scheduled to re-enact Dada performances.
This exhibit is teasingly fun, reminding the viewer of how robust and youthful these ideas from nearly a century ago still are.
So what is the meaning of Dada? Or rather, what are the meanings, (the Dadaists delighted in employing word play to describe the linguistic divisions of the European countries at war)? For instance, Dada means "yes, yes" in Romanian and "rocking horse" or "hobby horse" in French. In German, it means "there, there" and was a sign of the foolish naivete and joy of procreation.
It may sound like a child's word, but Dada was also the brand name of a popular soap and hair tonic. The competing definitions allowed these artists to proclaim that "Dada means nothing."
For all its chaos and cacophony, the Dada movement, born out of despair and disillusionment, took one strong ethical stance--against absolute rules. To artists who have come after, Dada represents a freedom of thought and expression.
WHAT: Dada
WHERE: the National Gallery of Art East Building, on the National Mall between Third and Fourth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington
WHEN: The exhibit runs through May 14. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
COST: Free
INFO: 202/ 737-4215, nga.gov/exhibitions/ dadainfo.htm
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