Journey at Home Day 56
I've been journeying through the history of photography for many weeks. Today I arrived on Lesson 11 (of 16). It's the early 20th century. Some photographers are bucking conventional aesthetics and opting for abstract photography—close up of shapes, like Edward Weston's Pepper No. 30 and photo montages like Hannah Höch's Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Beer-Belly of the Weimar Republic. (Edward Weston mage courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
The montages of these image makers typically rejected war and politics, as the movement rose up in reaction to World War II. Höch's image includes anti-Dada figures from the Weimar republic as well as well known Dadaists. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
Dadaism was a movement that cut across all types of art, not just photography. Several theories are kicking around about the term Dadaism. A German artist threw a letter opener into a dictionary, and it landed on dada (French for hobby horse). Dada is one of the first utterances of a baby. Perhaps the term was chosen because it doesn't mean anything at all and therefore has international appeal while embracing the absurdity of the art. They are all reasonable explanations to me. It reminds me of the art collective and interactive exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico—Meow Wolf. The artists tossed words into a hat and pulled out two.