GR 106 Calligraphy

Zurich, 1916

Woodcut - The First Celestial Adventure of Mr. Antipyrine by Tristan Tzara with color and woodcuts by Marcel Janco. Collection Dada

Freedom from convention of typography is shown in the irregular axis, stem width, and spontaneous shaping of interlinear space and hand drawn letters. In terms of design contrast, the title is differentiated in size from the author and designer and publisher.

Tristan Tzara published this book, the first of the Dad publications. To understand dada you can read the English translation of his 1918 "Dada Manifesto" here.

Zurich, 1917

Linoleum cut - 16.75 x 10.375

Marcel Janco was a painter who excelled in the new media. His use of repeated letterform as a border for the main text exploits the contrast and rhythms of black and white format. Note the extra D in upper right corner that "doesn't fit" but is used to fill the space.

Zurich, 1919

Photogram: gelatin silver printing-out paper print - 2.375 x 3.25

Hand-lettered titling was informal, spontaneous, and without pretention.

A photogram is a photographic image made (without a camera) by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a silhouetted image varying in darkness based on the transparency of the objects used, with areas of the paper that have not received any light appearing light and those that have appearing dark, according to the laws of photosensitivity. The image obtained is hence a negative and the effect is often quite similar to an X-Ray. This method of imaging is perhaps most prominently attributed to Man Ray and his exploration of rayographs. Others who have experimented with the technique include Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Imogen Cunningham and even Pablo Picasso.

Zurich, 1920

Oil on turned wood - 11-9/16 inches tall

Sophie Taeuber was a teacher at the Zurich School of Applied Arts and had early freed herself from the distinctions between painting and decorative arts. She was skilled in woodworking, weaving, embroidery, and other aspects of arts and crafts.

The image on the right is a constructed and painted mannikin head. Taeuber was a skilled maker of puppet figures made of wood, metal and fabric for the Swiss Marionette Theatre and this Dada Head drew from that skill. Note the artist's initials SNT on the base above the black shape.

The image on the left is Taeuber's Self Portrait with Dada-Kopf, a photograph taken by Nic Aluf in 1926; this gelatin silver print is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Taeuber met Hans Arp in 1915 during Arp's first exhibit in Zurich and as partners the two pursued a re-formation of aesthetic ideology which employed three-dimensional abstraction and symmetry, in direct opposition to the two-dimensional and asymmetrical compositions of times past. The edges between painting and craft began to blur as she wove large embroideries to frame and hang on the wall, and Arp began to sculpt flat woodworked relief images to hang as well.

Zurich, 1920

Oil on canvas on board - 13.75 x 16.25

The creation of the previous mannikin head is here translated onto a flat plane, its components separated and brought together in a new composition. The transition from observing and analyzing the visual world to observing and analyzing the created object/moment is complete.

Berlin, 1920

Photomontage and collage with gouache on the cover of the exhibition catalogue of the First International Dada Fair - 12.25 x 14. 5

Choosing, arranging, and placing elements from every day life in layers reflected more clearly the succession of moments and realities of life in increasingly complex times. Compositional rules of balance, color harmony, aerial perspective were not ignored, but used in new ways with new elements. Nothing was taboo if the statement succeeded.

Berlin, 1920

Pencil on Paper - 14.25 x 13.5

Excellent draftsmanship combined with the embracing of letterform as object, using the letters and numerals to delineate the planes and volumes of the head. Word images were integral to Dadaist art.

Berlin, 1921

Ink on paper with photomontage and collage - 17.125 x 13.75

The act of traveling by train is illustrated in a collage drawing that glimpses in visual shorthand the engine, engine number, smoke, passenger, written sounds, ticket, stamp, destination, tracks, movement of wheel mechanisms, all of the elements that make up a memory of that 391 Berlin-Dresden train ride.

Berlin, 1922

Photomontage and collage with ink, zinc white, graphite, crayon, and colored pencil on board - 12.625 x 16.25

A scrapbook of experience combining diverse media provide a wide look into the artist's psyche, personality, contemporary surroundings, and life history. Personal and impersonal are combined.

Hannover, 1919

Ink and watercolor on paper mounted on book cloth - 8.75 x 5.75

Raw sketching, spontaneous with no artifice. Letterforms are built up following typographical models. Gothic heritage can be seen in the stylized roundhand script. There is concern always with spacing and rhythm, but there is absolute acceptance of what comes out first, without much attention to the rough draft stage. The art unfolds organically.

Watercolor and colored pencil on paper mounted on book cloth - 8.325 x 6.75

Here the scribbled letterforms are very rough, but certainly present. Letterform was integral to dadaist art, signifying the spoken word. The title refers to his famous poem "An Anna Blume" translated as "Eve Blossom." You can read the text here or research Schwitters on the web. This poem is written Dada art, full of non-sequitur and unexpected syntax.

Hannover, 1920

Two lithographs, one with collage - 8.75 x 5.75

Here the letterforms are built up again from typographic models, and scattered throughout the visual field with a conviction that their placement is correct and intended, though spontaneous. Schwitters was the proponent of "Merz" art, his innovative assemblages and collages. All conceivable materials and images were available for artistic purposes. The artist creates through choice, distribution and dematerialization of the materials.

Hannover, 1919

Ink on paper - 8.75 x 5.75

This simple drawing shows the relationship between speech and image; in a sense they are the same on paper: tools for constructing a work of art that conveys realization.

Hannover, 1922-23

Lithograph (detail) - full size: 11.825 x 11.825

All hand drawn letters, balanced and mixing in the visual field with a careful management of the placement. There is almost a whorl creating a centrifugal effect, carried out by the angular placement of the words DADA and the outward orientation of the small text. This detail is the right side of the program only.

Hannover, 1923

Seven lithographs on paper - each sheet is 17.75 x 13.75

From left to right the titles are: Mustache Hat, The Sea, The Navel Bottle, Eggbeater, A Navel, Mustache Watch, Arabic Eight

The form is the message. Look at these in the light of Notan and see how well they work in terms of black/white balance. There is no background. There is implication of distance through the placement of these "simple" two dimensional forms. Does the black recede, or is the white more distant? It is important to grasp this ambiguity.

Cologne, 1920

Gouache, pencil and ink on printed preproduction
mounted on board with ink inscription - 6.825 x 8.75

Complete title reads: In German, "The master's bedroom, it's worth spending a night there", and on the bottom in French, "Max Ernst's bedroom, this is worth the trouble of passing the night".

How can one destroy art? By doing the opposite of the past and consciously rebelling against all "rules," the dadaists attempted to ridicule and reject established aesthetics. Images were drawn from within, from the wealth of the subconscious, pointing more and more toward surrealism.

New York, 1925

Paperback Book Cover reproducing white gouache on black paper drawing - 9.75 x 7.5

Project for the Rotary Demisphere, cover of the journal The Little Review, vol. 11, no. 1, Spring 1925

Text that runs around circle is an elaborate play on words: "Rrose Sélavy et moi estimons les ecchymoses des Esquimaux aux mots exquis." (Rrose Sélavy and I esteem the bruises of the Eskimos as exquisite words) From Wikipedia, "Rrose Sélavy, a pun, sounds like the French phrase 'Eros, c'est la vie', which translates to English as 'love, that's life'."

New York, 1919

Oil on plywood and board - 20.25 x 25.25

The lettering describes this composition which is based on the form of X.

Paris, 1920

Gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper - 19.25 x 25.325

Homage to Thomas Edison with images symbolic of broadcasting sound (numerals, words, music notes). The word "audela" upper left means "beyond".

Paris, 1918-19

Oil and collage of silver paper on canvas - 24 x 19.75

Some words contained herein are: "Et la glace se briserait" (and the ice will break up), "L'echauffage croulerait" (warmth will rock), "Les ballons s'envolleraient" (balloons, spheres will fly away), "Les astres s'eteindraient" (the stars will be extinguished), etc.

Paris, 1921

Oil with photomontage and collage on canvas - 58.5 x 46.25

This handwritten collection of famous dadaist signatures and phrases is a record of humor, moments shared, impressions of friends, awareness of present, created by Picaba and signed by the individuals as a memory book. Many types of writing are used.

Cacodyle: a colorless, poisonous, arsenical liquid, spontaneously inflammable and possessing an intensely disagreeable odor.

Paris, 1921

Oil with photomontage and collage on canvas - 58.5 x 46.25

Closeup of detail.

Paris, 1919

Ink on paper - 20.125 x 14.25

A visual plotting of the movement of dada, with a timeline mentioning all those who were involved and contributed to the movement. There is a reference to "391", the Berlin-Dresden train that Hausmann portrayed two years later. The imagery calls to mind a time-bomb, darkly humorous.

Paris, 1920-22

Ink and watercolor on paper - 12.75 x 11

What is in a name? Why not a self portrait as signature, the graphic representation of the person by what they are called, complete with smudges and imperfections?

Paris, 1920

Pencil and ink on paper - 12.625 x 9.125

Here there is a correlation established between the title, Virgin Saint or Blessed Virgin, and the dynamic ink splash. Can you figure out the connection? If so, you will have entered the mind of Francis Picabia.

Lithograph with watercolor - dimensions not available

As the Dada Movement nears the end of its flourishing before moving forward into new forms, it is represented by Picabia's poster for a Year's Eve event which includes an routine that furthers the interplay between staged and filmed reality. Called Cinésketch, it was a ballet that features intertitles announced loudly through a megaphone; the lights are switched on and off with the action in imitation of cinematic scenes. Duchamp and a young woman appear briefly at one point as Adam and Eve, modeled after Lucas Cranach. The narrator cries out as the stage goes dark: "The policeman, who doesn't understand, wants to arrest everybody."

Dada art did not occur in a vacuum. It was part of the art community, the social fabric of the time, and was inseparable from current events. It was not sentimental nor did it copy. It was educated, experiential, fearless and sardonic, loud and filled with energy and a strong desire for using an ever-increasing range of expression, means, and methods.

I hope this slide show gives you a good view of this very exciting as well as troubled time, when artists came together to express outrage and discontent as well as vitality, warmth and appreciation of life. What has changed in 90 years?