2016 was the 100th anniversary of the first Dada performances at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland. So in reverence to this critical moment in 20th-century Art History, Artlyst brings you the Top 10 Dadaist Artists.
The word Dada is said to mean either ‘hobby horse’ or possibly the exclamation ‘yes, yes’. The group of artists, writers, poets, performers that included Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp, Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Sophie Tauber and Hans Richter were expressing their adverse reaction to the horrors of the Great War. This group of artistic anarchists challenged the social, political and cultural values of the time. After the war ended, the movement spread to Berlin, Cologne and Hanover, where artists such as Hannah Hoch and George Grosz took up the baton. Meanwhile, New York City had also become a refuge for writers and artists from the First World War, where Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and Man Ray became the radical centre of anti-art activities. The Dadaists used techniques such as automatism, chance, photo-montage and assemblage and challenged the boundaries of acceptable artworks. They were the first to introduce the concept that an artwork could be a temporary installation. Their influence is far-reaching from Surrealism, through action painting, Pop Art, to installations and conceptual art. Marcel Duchamp famously declared, “Art doesn’t interest me. Only artists interest me.”
10. Emmy Hennings
Emmy Hennings 1885 – 1948, often performed with puppets. She was also a poet and was married to Hugo Ball. They were both key figures at the Cabaret Voltaire.
9. Raoul Hausmann
Raoul Hausmann 1886 – 1971, Austrian artist and poet one of the key figures in Berlin
8. George Grosz
George Grosz 1893 – 1959 prominent member of the Berlin Dadaists,best known for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin in the 1920s
7. Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Schwitters 1887 – 1948 most famous for his collages, called Merz Pictures.
6. Sophie Tauber-Arp
Sophie Tauber-Arp Swiss 1889 – 1943 artist, painter, sculptor, textile designer, and dancer. She took part in Dada-inspired performances as a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer, and she designed puppets, costumes and sets for performances at the Cabaret Voltaire.
5. Jean (Hans) Arp
Jean (Hans) Arp 1886 – 1966, German-French sculptor, painter, poet, and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper. associated with the movement in Cologne
4. Man Ray
Man Ray 1890 – 1976, US photographer and painter based in New York and Paris.
3. Hannah Hoch
Belly of the Cultural Epoch of Germany, 1919
Hannah Hoch 1889 – 1978, one of the originators of photo-montage
2. Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia 1879 – 1953 one of the early major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and in France. He started the Dada periodical 391.
1. Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp 1887 – 1968 part of the New York Dadaists, who were less formal than their Swiss counterpart,s more concerned with the ideas of absurdity and ‘anti-art’, the father of the ready-mades