Heads of State, Hannah Höch, 1918-20
“Portly German politicians in their swimsuits floundering against a backdrop of fine embroidery”
Photomontage was the art of protest, but dada cut-and-paste pioneer Hannah Höch went further and made it a thing of beauty too. A juggling act of bristling vitality, and though it is often praised as a great assault on German politics, the sending up of people and objects – quite literally – is what strikes. Höch’s art is so balletic, her snipped images and dismembered figures dance on the page like leaves in the air. Her work is tough and punchy, yet always delicate.
You see that in her comical juxtaposition of portly German politicians in their swimsuits floundering against a backdrop of fine embroidery that appears to catch them in its net. I would like to use this in my own work in the delicate forming collage – subtley.
