{"id":4701,"date":"2016-06-12T17:18:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-12T21:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/?p=4701"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:18:50","slug":"dada-and-the-surreal-face-in-contemporary-collage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/archives\/4701","title":{"rendered":"Dada and the Surreal Face in Contemporary Collage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNobody knows, and it is now too late to discover, who invented that most succinct of all art movement names.\u201d
\n\u2014 Robert Hughes<\/p>\n

\u201cStyle is not to be trusted.\u201d
\n\u2014 Milton Glaser
\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As most of you know, 2016 marks the centennial of the art movement known as Dada.<\/em> Although credit for originating collage as a \u201cmodern art\u201d is customarily granted to the Cubists, no group shaped the emerging medium as powerfully as early 20th-Century Dadaists and their successors, the Surrealists. Very few traditions or conceptual approaches in contemporary collage have not navigated the tributaries they established, in spite of the fact that each of these artistic \u201cschools of thought\u201d had a relatively short apex. Much continues to be said and written about the catalytic Hugo Ball<\/a> and the seismic effect after he opened Zurich\u2019s Cabaret Voltaire with Emmy Hennings<\/a> in February, 1916. Most of the work still being created under the banner of collage has not escaped the hundred-year shadow of inherent sensibilities unleashed on modern art by those who first uttered \u201cDada!\u201d \u2014 spontaneity, chance, irreverence, consternation, and, perhaps foremost, a rejectionist posture. Without a doubt, most collage artists of our time would disagree with Ball\u2019s Jacobin-esque exhortation to \u201cburn all libraries and allow to remain only that which everyone knows by heart.\u201d Nevertheless, they might indeed relate to his conclusion that \u201cthis humiliating age has not succeeded in winning our respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Warsaw-based designer\/educator and blogger Ann\u0119 K\u0142os describes Dada as a world view<\/a>, that by its very nature could not be homogeneous, and that the seminal Merz<\/em><\/a> of Kurt Schwitters was manifest within the context of internal incompatibilities. For the most part, however, many artists now tend to lump together the Dadaists, and emulate their visual and intellectual departures as an encompassing genre at best and a mere \u201cstyle\u201d at worst. \u2014 Time out. \u2014<\/em> This is when I grab myself by the scruff of the neck to keep from going off on an unnecessary tangent. My purpose is to share an ongoing fascination with how Dada continues to influence those of us working in the medium today. Permit me to highlight one particular \u201csubject\u201d that shows no sign of diminishing \u2014 the enduring exploration of the Surreal Face. Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2019s Le fils de l’homme<\/em><\/a> immediately comes to mind (or his much earlier cover image for Andr\u00e9 Breton\u2019s Qu\u2019est-ce que le surr\u00e9alisme?<\/em><\/a>). One must follow their roots to Dada, and to the photomontages of Raoul Hausmann and Hannah H\u00f6ch, (or her The Strong Guys<\/em><\/a>, or his Tatlin at Home<\/em><\/a>). For me, nothing exemplifies the unsettling, elusive qualities of the Dada phenomenon better than when a contemporary collage virtuoso captures that inexpressible twist of incongruity and aesthetic finesse with a surreal take on the human head. Just when I think there is nothing more to be tapped, I appreciate anew how inexhaustible this \u201crenewable resource\u201d can be.
\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Flore Kunst<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nFrom her extraordinary \u201csketchbook\u201d (Page 1<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Katrien De Blauwer<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nFrom her Loin Series<\/em><\/a>.
\nDoes anyone else do more with less?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles Wilkin<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cFor me clarity and relief is found solely through the process itself<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Peggy Despres<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nThe prolific Peggy Pop<\/a> will find the sweet spot.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Pascal Verzijl<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nNever Saw It Coming<\/em><\/a>
\n(Did Dadaists see digital collage coming?)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Matthew Rose<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nMy Advice<\/em><\/a>
\n(What would I actually give to get his advice?)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a><\/p>\n

John Stezaker<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cIt sometimes feels like I am cutting though flesh<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNobody knows, and it is now too late to discover, who invented that most succinct of all art movement names.\u201d \u2014 Robert Hughes \u201cStyle is not to be trusted.\u201d \u2014 Milton Glaser   As most of you know, 2016 marks the centennial of the art movement known as Dada. Although credit for originating collage as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,24,100,14,193,82,5,91,20,192,195,32,194,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4701"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20645,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions\/20645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}