John Heartfield, born Helmut Hertzfeld in Berlin on June 19, 1891, was a graphic artist who designed political photomontages for the German Communist Party (KPD) after joining in 1917.
In 1916, Hertzfeld changed his names to John Heartfeld in protest to Germany's nationalism and anti-British environment after serving in the German militia for the first world war just a year before. He and his brother founded the Berlin based Malik Verlag publishing house that same year and he produced images for the daily Die Neue Jugend.
His involvement in the Dada movement began shortly after joining the KPD. From 1924 to 1933 he designed illustrations using photomontage for illustrated socialist magazine Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung (The People's Pictorial Newspaper.)
In 1938, Heartfield's artwork prompted the German government to arrest Heartfield and so he fled to England, where he produced images for Penguin Books, Reynolds News, and Picture Post.
Heartfield returned to his birth town in 1950 as a set designer for the Berliner Ensemble and the Deutsches Theater. Just ten years later he became a professor at the German Academy of Arts in Berlin. And by 1968, Heartfield died in East Germany.
"And Yet It Moves", black and white collage, 1943
This work is a collage of Hitler's face on an animal's body with a Nazi helmet with horns. He's sitting on the earth with sword in his hand that has what seems to be blood dripping from it. As he sits on the earth it shows that it is moving, regardless of his presence.
The title of the work refers to Galileo's alleged comment of defending heliocentrism by stomping and saying "and yet [the earth] moves." In relation to Hitler, he made his mark on history and despite all of the terror he brought the world survived.
"A Berlin Saying", black and white
This image of Hitler's legs and derriere with giant ears on both sides of the hips.
This image refers to Hitler's though process and ideas regarding Germany and the world. It indicates that Hitler was incapable of thinking clearly and his theories and ideas were incoherent and stupid.
This image shows Hitler watering a German oak tree that produced shells with Nazi helmets with swastika and a gas mask.
This black and white image shows a German oak tree or the Donar Oak, which to Germans was an ancient paganism symbolization of loyalty, truth, and longevity and by the eighteenth century became a national symbol of the essence of Germany.
In the image it's showing that Hitler took one of the most nationalistic references in Germany's history and culture and tainted it with his ideas which in turn tainted Germany's history and culture.
Hi Britt,
ReplyDeleteGood summary of Heartfield's work and life. What made you want to choose him? Also, you only completed half the assignment. I also wanted you to read the "Dada Manifesto" and write a reflection on it. By that I mean, choose a specific quote that grabs your attention. Write out the quote, then underneath tell me your interpretation of what you think they are saying, and then under that tell me why you chose this quote. And it should be about a page long.
hello Britt,
ReplyDeleteI like your nice concise summary and life of the way he used his art. The descriptions of the artwork were pretty good but maybe you could have wrote a bit more on the interpretation. Oh and where is the post of the Manifesto Quote?