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Christopher R. Whittle

Professor Mary Newman

Typography

November 21, 2011

DADA

The Dada movement began in Zurich around 1911 as a protesting literary

movement initiated by Romanian poet Tristan Tzara, and then visualized by sculptor

Hans Arp (Johnson 669). Considered an anti-art movement and not officially a

movement, Dada (French slang for “hobby horse”) was a loose series of comic protests

against the evils of World War I. Whereas…

In Germany, Dadaist nihilism was connected to a political

stance that embraced the ideals of Communism while

ridiculing both German Militarism and Western Capitalism

(Wilkins et al. 537).

There were no official rules or standards on what Dada really was, albeit influenced by

Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism; responsible for the idea of Surrealism, and “self-

destructed when it was in danger of becoming ‘acceptable’” (Essak).

When French painter Marcel Duchamp brought Dada to New York City in 1915,

he never considered himself a Dadaist (Wilkins 536). However, his 1912 cubistic piece

“Nude Descending a Staircase” was almost plagiarized by J. Amswold a year later.

Amswold’s parody “Rude decending a staircase” was published in the New York

Evening Sun on March 20, 1913 (Wilkens et al. 518-9).

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Max Ernst (1891-1976) rejected art and painted on the faction of science. He too

was a medical student at one point, and a medical assistant during World War I after

studies in psychology at the University of Bonn from 1909-14 (Dave). The Bruhl native first

exhibited at “Sturm” in Berlin (Peak.org). He used science, technology, engineering,

and architecture as major topics for his mediums, which included Futurism and

Surrealism (Wilkins et al. 549). A major

piece from Ernst’s collection of

masterpieces is “Au rendez-vous des

amis,” painted in 1922 (see right). As

you can see, the painting looks very

realistic, but has plenty of futurism

throughout the whole composition.

All types of different shades and

saturations are used in the painting,

but most of the gentlemen featured do not appear to be serious. The uses of

mountains, a solar system orbiting in the background and the men on the moon sitting

in the foreground show that there is a possibility that the moon can be an inhabitable

place. As far as we know from history, men were on the moon, but not in regular

clothing (Museum Ludwig).

While the Dada movement disappeared at the end of World War I, it was

revived years later (Johnson 719). One famous neo-Dadaist was Robert Rauschenberg,

at painter, typographer, choreographer, and sculptor. Born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg

on October 22, 1925 in Port Arthur, Texas, he renamed himself Robert in adulthood

when he was drafted into the United States Navy (Kimmelman 3). While diagnosed with

Max Ernst, Au rendez-vous des amis, 1922, oil on canvas,

130 x 195 cm, Museum Ludwig 1976

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dyslexia as an adult, his academic struggles as a child propelled him to be a successful

artist (Mattison 35-7). Rauschenberg, a graduate of the Academie Julien Paris, the

Kansas City Art Institute, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina (Artnet.com),

began his professional practice in a Fulton Street, Lower Manhattan studio with no

running water. He debut with “White Painting”, a white paneled board; “Untitled”, and

“Charlene & Collection.” His early work was focused on the urban crises in New York

City in the 1950’s, where businesses were taking over residences (Mattison 41-5). His

work was featured in the comics section of The New York Daily News and Life magazine

(Mattison 51).

An environmentalist, Rauschenberg used recycled material of the streets and

from the trash and recycle bins of

Manhattan (Mattison 130). His first major

sculpture, Curfew, was made of recycled

Coke bottles, wood, fabric, and nuts and

bolts. It was supposed to be a

reproduction of the Nineteenth century

sculpture by Edward Lanseer (Mattison

71). His 1959 sculpture Monogram (see

right) claims to be his most famous piece

of work, features a Manitoba moose head statue on a collage of items (Wilkins et al.

570).

After studio relocations to Pearl Street and to 809 Broadway (Mattison 91),

Rauschenberg painted the poster “Estate”, a collage of urbanism and architecture,

albeit the appearance of the Sistine Chapel interior and Michelangelo’s David

Monogram by Robert Rauschenberg (Wilkins et al. 570)

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(Mattison 99). The man who said that “Art is social” (Mattison 105) participated in the

production of the Stoned Moon Series of NASA (Mattison 110), illustrating the book for

the agency:

The overall appearance of the Stoned Moon Book is one of

spontaneity and variety; some pages are nearly empty while

others are filled with text and pictures. While the originality of

Rauschenberg’s approach is noteworthy, his freedom of

design has historical antecedents in the graphic

interventions of the Dada and Russian Constructivist

movements, with which Rauschenberg was familiar

(Mattison 128).

After nearly twenty years of studio practice in New York City, Rauschenberg

moved his studio to Captiva Island, Florida in 1970. That same year, he designed the

inaugural Earth Day poster, for which he would also do in 1990, the same year he

established the Rauschenberg Foundation (Artnet.com). During the 1980’s, supported

by the United Nations, he participated in the Rauschenberg Cultural Overseas

Interchange (ROCI), where he mortgaged his Florida home to fund it (Mattison 221-9).

In 2002, Rauschenberg suffered a stroke that had him paralyzed on the right side of the

body. He passed away in 2008 after heart failure at his Captiva Island estate at the age

of 82 (Kimmelman 1-6).

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Works Cited

Dave. “Maxed out on Dada: Avoiding the Degeneracy of Gainful Employment,”

Madame Pickwick Art Blog. 7/27/2010; Accessed 11/14/2011; HTML

Essak, Shelley. “Dada-Art History 101 Basics: The Non-Art Movement,” About.com

Art History. 2011; Accessed 11/14/2011; HTML

Johnson, Paul. Art: A New History. New York: Harpercollins, 2003. Print.

Kimmelman, Michael. “Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82,” The

New York Times, 5/14/2008. Accessed 11/15/2011; HTML

Mattison, Robert S. Robert Rauschenberg Breaking Boundaries. New Haven: Yale

University Press, 2003. Print.

“Max Ernst,” Peak.org. Accessed 11/14/2011; HTML

“Max Ernst, Dada and Surrealism,” Museum Ludwig. 2011, Accessed 11/14/2011;

HTML.

“Robert Rauschenberg Biography,” Artnet.com. New York: 2011; Accessed

11/14/2011; HTML.

Wilkens, David G. et al. Art Past, Art Present. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson-

Prentice Hall, 2009; Print.