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Dadaism as a reaction to the brutality of the First World War

Dadaism, or Dada, is a temporary avant-garde
Avant-garde is how modern art critics refer the general trend of new artistic directions that arose in world art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A very thin line separates it from the concept of “modernism”. Read more
movement that originated during the First World War in neutral Switzerland and spread throughout Europe. It existed from about 1916 to 1922. Over time, Dadaism merged with Surrealism
Avant-garde is how modern art critics refer the general trend of new artistic directions that arose in world art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A very thin line separates it from the concept of “modernism”. Read more
Surrealism (Fr. surréalisme) is an avant-garde art movement of the first half of the twentieth century characterized by the fusion of reality with something else, but not oppositional. Surrealism is a dream which is neither real, nor surreal. The style is characterized by allusions and a paradoxical combination of forms, visual deception. In the paintings of the Surrealists hard objects and rocks often melt, and the water, on the contrary, hardens. Read more
in France, and with Expressionism
You can hardly tell the exact day or year of the birth of Expressionism, which is usual for all powerful art movements. You cannot draw a border on the map and indicate the territory where Expressionism took its start and got stronger. Overall, it’s all roughly known. Except for one rock-solid spatiotemporal benchmark: Northern Europe on the eve of the First World War. Expressionism is an avant-garde art movement, a new tragic worldview, and a whole set of significant motifs, symbols, and myths. Moreover, it is a revolutionary reaction both to the shabby, lifeless traditional academic art, and the light, idyllic southern impressionistic “appearance” of the world. Read more
in Germany.
Dadaism as a reaction to the brutality of the First World War
Dadaism was born out of decadence, bohemian hobby for alcohol and drugs, and disappointment. The artists tried to prove that life is absurd and meaningless. The development of the art movement was also influenced by "woe from wits": the artists thought a lot and worked little, which made the world drown in a stream of endless reflections without specifics. Key figures in the movement included Jean Arp, Johannes Baader, Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, George Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Emmy Hennings, Hannah Höch, Richard Huelsenbeck, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Kurt Schwitters, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tristan Tzara, and Beatrice Wood, among others.
Most often, for self-expression, Dadaists did not use paints, but the technique of collage or instal

Most often, for self-expression, Dadaists did not use paints, but the technique of collage or installation, joining completely disconnected objects or fragments of illustrations. The main sign of the style is complete meaninglessness: it is not clear what the artist wanted to say, and most importantly, why. A striking example is the work of one of the founding fathers of the genre, Marcel Duchamp, who became famous for having put his own autograph on a urinal, and exhibiting it in a serious gallery as a work of art.
The most famous examples of the Dadaist creativity are the aforementioned urinal and the Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q. (1919) — the artist encroached on the sacred by painting reproductions of the Mona Lisa with a moustache.

Raoul Hausmann. Art critic
Art critic
1920, 31.8×25.4 cm
Dadaism is valuable as a phenomenon from which pop art and surrealism
Avant-garde is how modern art critics refer the general trend of new artistic directions that arose in world art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A very thin line separates it from the concept of “modernism”. Read more
Surrealism (Fr. surréalisme) is an avant-garde art movement of the first half of the twentieth century characterized by the fusion of reality with something else, but not oppositional. Surrealism is a dream which is neither real, nor surreal. The style is characterized by allusions and a paradoxical combination of forms, visual deception. In the paintings of the Surrealists hard objects and rocks often melt, and the water, on the contrary, hardens. Read more
have borrowed several interesting techniques. Collage
Collage (fr. collage — “gluing”) is a method used in the fine arts to create an appliqué of various fragments, different in colour and texture. This term also denotes the work performed in this technique. It was first introduced into the visual arts by the futurists and cubists, in particular, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They combined scraps of fabric, photographs and wallpaper on canvases. Famous collage makers include film director Sergei Parajanov, who combined photographs, lace scraps, porcelain and dried plants.
They often try to diversify the decorating technique with pictorial tools: a brush with paint or a pen with ink. The creative genre is notable for its variegation and bold ideas. A related technique is assemblage, which involves combining various objects and their parts on a surface. Photo collages are very popular today. Read more
and symbols of the era of consumption are often present in all three art movements, but the works of pop artists and surrealists have a rather clear message and meaning, whereas the essence of Dadaism it their total absence. This is an absurd direction.
Max Ernst. Chinese nightingale
Chinese nightingale
1920, 12.2×8.8 cm
It is interesting that in the modern world polluted by an excessive amount of information the ideas of Dadaism are reviving — the neo-Dada movement is growing. To some extent, the endless funny collage
Collage (fr. collage — “gluing”) is a method used in the fine arts to create an appliqué of various fragments, different in colour and texture. This term also denotes the work performed in this technique. It was first introduced into the visual arts by the futurists and cubists, in particular, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They combined scraps of fabric, photographs and wallpaper on canvases. Famous collage makers include film director Sergei Parajanov, who combined photographs, lace scraps, porcelain and dried plants.
They often try to diversify the decorating technique with pictorial tools: a brush with paint or a pen with ink. The creative genre is notable for its variegation and bold ideas. A related technique is assemblage, which involves combining various objects and their parts on a surface. Photo collages are very popular today. Read more
illustrations replicated on social networks may be classified so.
Recommended artworks:
Yuri Valentinovich Zorko. Noon in Crimea
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Edward Potashev. The Way
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Nina Rassen. "Cosmic Xalaharias All Legends of the Universe."
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"Cosmic Xalaharias All Legends of the Universe."
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Vladimir Sergeevič Barkov. PENTATONICS
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PENTATONICS
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Gennady Nikolayevich Zhikharev. Tree Man
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Tree Man
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Natalia Priputnikova. Dragonfly 2
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Dragonfly 2
2023, 50×60×1.5 cm
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Jasper Jones. From 0 to 9
From 0 to 9
1961, 137.2×104.8 cm
The living classic of neo-Dada is American Jasper Johns. In 2013, his name was in the middle of the scandal when it turned out that the keeper of his personal archive, who had worked for the artist for 25 years, had stolen his paintings and raised more than $ 6 million from their sale.