Rare Books, Book Illustration, and the DADA movement: Hannah Höch - Brushflurlets and Beer Bellies
Snippets from an article in "Weimar: Art and Modernity in Central Europe"
Rare books, book illustration, book art and the DADA movement – Hannah Höch was born in Gotha, Germany. From 1912 to 1914 she studied at the College of Arts and Crafts in Berlin under the guidance of Harold Bergen. In 1915, Höch began an influential friendship with Raoul Hausmann, since then she was involved in the Berlin Dada movement. She designed dress and embroidery patterns for Die Dame and Die Praktische Berlinerin, published by Ullstein. From 1926 to 1929 she lived and worked in the Netherlands. She was one of the leading DADA artists, and a pioneer of the photomontage. Her collages, photographs and illustrations were statements about life and art in the Dada movement – and are well-known to art and rare book collectors.
“Höch made many influential friendships over the years, with Hans Arp and Kurt Schwitters among others. She met Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian in 1924 in Paris, and a trip to Holland in 1926 was extended to a stay of three years. Here, in 1926, she met and grew to love Til Brugmann. The relationship, scandalous as it was for the time, sharpened her eye to the allocation of male and female roles. Höch and Brugmann returned to Germany in 1929, and she participated in two important exhibits: The prestigious Film and Photo exhibition, the first big photography show in Europe, included 18 of her photomontages. Some 10.000 people saw the exhibition on its first tour stop alone, Stuttgart. In that year, the De Bron Gallery in The Hague mounted her first one-woman show, which included her oil paintings, numerous drawings, and watercolors, though not her photomontages. “The prestigious Film and Photo exhibition, the first big photography show in Europe, included 18 of her photomontages. Some 10.000 people saw the exhibition on its first tour stop alone, Stuttgart. In that year, the De Bron Gallery in The Hague mounted her first one-woman show, which included her oil paintings, numerous drawings, and watercolors, though not her photomontages.”
“She met Dadaist Raoul Hausmann in 1915 and they became close friends. Höch was the only woman participating in the First International Dada Fair which took place at at Dr. Otto Burchard’s Berlin art gallery in July 1920. Among her fellow dadaists were Johannes Baader, George Grosz and John Heartfield. Höch's personal relationship with Hausmann grew from friendship to a temptous romance over time, but they separated in 1922, partly because Höch didn't like Hausmann's insistence on an "official" ménage à trois together with his wife (Hausmann's dream came true in the late 1920s, when he moved with his wife Hedwig and his model Vera Broido to the fashionable district of Charlottenburg).”
>>> Hannah Höch - Brushflurlets and Beer Bellies - This very interesting article about life and art of Hannah Höch is posted here: Weimar: Art and Modernity in Central Europe, August 31 2010
>>> www.hoech-hannah.de