Kurt Schwitters "i-Drawing" (1920)

i-Drawing 1920

Kurt Schwitters' famous piece the 'i-Drawing', dated 1920. It is very dense and has high colour contrast. At first glance the piece looks very cluttered and jumbled, but in actual fact the piece is extremely constructed. The complex layout seems, in my opinion, to create an image of a fence or bars. This could be an expression of Kurt Schwitters feelings (as a Dadaist) towards the amount of censorship on freedom of speech. The pictures and newspaper prints seem to represent knowledge, creativity and freedom of speech. The lines and bars represent the censorship.

This piece seems more constructed the more you look at it. It has a rhythmical pattern creating consistency throughout the piece. The typographic values create a very "gothic". The type layout is very archaic and unlike most typography work you see. The colours used are very interesting. The dull and dark effect they produce really sets the mood for the whole piece. Creating a dark style that draws in the viewer.

This work is still used in modern day design. It is massively used by Graphic Designer Neville Brody.

 

Above you can see Neville Brody's poster design for "F Code, Fuse 6, Font shop International 1993" compared to the "i-Drawing" you can see a clear influence from the Dada style. The repetative, almost rhythmical pattern of type, combined with a grungey dark background image. The Contrasting colours look very similar to the Kurt Schwitters "i-Drawing" combining the various background colours with a strongly contrasted bold colour.

This method of consistency was later applied to other Artistic styles such as poetry, or "i-Poems" which he composed entirely from text fragments he sourced himself.

In 1923, Schwitters released the second issue of his magazine "MERZ".

MERZ magazine #2 (i-number) 1923

There have been many successful artists that have been influenced by the Dada Movement, such as; Jamie Reid, Theo Van Doesburg. Their styles have a clear representative style of the Dada movement.

Kurt Schwitters

KURT SCHWITTERS

Kurt Schwitters was a German Artist most recognisable for his work in Surrealism, Constructivism, Dadaism and even Installation Art (3D work of art that alter the perception of a space) as well as poetry and music. He studied Art at the Dresden Academy along side Otto Dix and Georg Grosz.

Kurt Schwitters famously quoted:

"In the war [at the machine factory at Wilfen] I discovered my love for the wheel and recognised that machines are abstractions of the human spirit".

Kurt Schwitters worked heavily with collages, creating "Merz". Merz has been described as a psychological collage. Mostly attempting to make an aesthetic sense of the world around him. One of Schwitters pieces was "Merzbau" in which he converted 6 (or maybe more) rooms in a family house. This was later taken down by the Nazis during the War.

During the late 1930's Germany continued to deteriorate under the Nazis. Some of Schwitters work was confiscated and even publicly humiliated. Later, after being called for an interview with the Gestapo, he fled to Norway to meet his son, who had also fled the country to seek refuge in a safe country.

Cabaret Voltaire

CABARET VOLTAIRE

The Cabaret Voltaire was the name of a night-club in Zurich. Founded by famous Dadaist, Hugo Ball, along with Emmy Hennings in 1916. It was a Cabaret for Artistic and Political Purposes. It provided a safe haven for visual artists and poets to express their work freely.

During the first World War, Switzerland was Neutral, because of his neutrality, Artists fled from all over the world amongst the other refugees in the world. This caused the (to be) Dadaists to congregate, thus giving birth to the Cabaret Voltaire and in turn, the whole Dadaist movement.

The press release which accompanied the opening of the night club read:

"Cabaret Voltaire, under this name a group of young artists and writers has been formed whose aim is to create a centre for artistic entertainment. The idea of the Cabaret will be the guest artists will come and give musical performances and readings at the daily meetings. The young artists of Zurich, whatever their orientation, are invited to come along with suggestions and contributions of all kinds" - Zurich, February 2nd, 1916.

The Cabaret wasn't just for the visually artistic, but also featured; Dance, Music, Spoken Word, Poetry and many more. The constant experimenting into the arts meant that the Dada Movement was constantly pushing the boundaries of the expected Art at the time.

Dadaism

DADA!

Dada, or Dadaism was an Art movement of the Avant-Garde in europe during the early 20th Century. The movement began in Zurich, Switzerland around 1916. Dada is said to have been born out of negative reactions to the horrors and tragedies of the first World War. This movement was created by visual artists, poets and intellectuals associated with the Cabaret Voltaire.

Dadaists were most recognised for breaking the boundaries, rejecting reason and logic aswell as celebrating nonsense in its entirety. Many believe that the word 'Dada' comes from Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco's frequent use of the words "Da, da!", which is Romanian for "Yes, Yes!". Others believe the name is coined from an early meeting of the Dadaists when a paperknife accidentally stuck in a German dictionary on the word "Dada", meaning "Hobbyhorse".

The movement heavily consisted of visual arts, poetry, literature, art theories, war politics and culture. These were all discussed in a variety of ways at the Cabaret Voltaire.

"When Lions roar, gazelles go still. The Hyenas sniff, but the arts fulfil!"- Kurt Schwitters

Critics believe the reason Dadaism was so incredibly popular, is the very reason it collapsed. The pressure and expectations placed upon the Artists involved grew too great. Above all that, numerous Dadaist Magazines and publications were banned. Exhibitions were closed (the work even confiscated).

Here are some of the most significant figures in the Dada movement:

Hugo Ball     Emmy Hennings     Hans Arp

Raoul Hausmann     Hannah Hoch     Tristan Tzara

Georg Grosz     John Heartfield     Hans Richter

Marcel Duchamp     Kurt Schwitter     Beatrice Wood

Dadaism was considered to be very informal. The entire movement was a protest against the Bourgeois Nationalists and Colonial interests, which Dadaists considered to be the cause of a War outbreak. Georg Grosz once quoted that his Art was intended as a protest "Against this world of mutual destruction". Hans Richter also stated that Dadaism wasn't art, it was Anti-Art.

Dadaism Techniques

There are considered to be many different techniques to Dadaism, such as:

Collages - An almost "imitation" of the cubist movement.

Photomontage - The Dadaists or "Monteurs" (Mechanics) used scissors and glue rather than paint and brushes. (Max Ernst famously used images of the first world war to protray destruction).

Assemblage - 3 Dimensional variations of collages (assembly of every day objects).

Ready-mades - The conversions of every day items (Marcel Duchamp was extremely famous for this method).

I feel an amount of respect towards the Dadaists. These were artists living in some horrific times, yet still wanted to have a positive effect on the world they lived in. They found a way to express their emotions and feelings to the war through their art.