Dadaism and Surrealism

Dadaism
What is Dadaism?
• Dadaism or Dada is a post-World War I cultural
movement in visual art as we as literature (mainly
poetry), theatre and graphic design.
• A kind of “anti-art”
Dadaism
A protest against the barbarism of the War and
what Dadaist believed was an oppressive intellectual
rigidity in both art and everyday society; its works
were characterized by a deliberate irrationally and
the rejection of the prevailing standards of art.
Dadaism
• Richard Huelsenbeck, a poet, and painter-musician Hugo Ball
selected the word at random from a German-French Dictionary.
• “Dada” was coined in Zurich in 1916.
• A nonsense word, it means “Yes-Yes” in Russian,
“There-There” in German (baby talk)
“Hobby-horse” in French
History of Dadaism
• Dadaism was a cultural manifestation which grew in the beginning
of the 20th century, more precisely between 1916-1923.
• Nihilism engendered by war, and the revolutionary spirit released
by the Cubism were the key factors behind the movement’s growth
and appeal.
• It employed a barrage of demonstrations and manifestos, and
exhibition of absurdist art which designed to shock both the
authorities and the general public.
Characteristics of Dadaism
• In general, Dada sought to undermine all art, viewing it as part
of cultural norms and sensibilities that established oppressive
aesthetic standards and emphasized the “reason” and “order”
that had led to the self-annihilating destruction of World War
I. Therefore, anything that contradicted these norms, chaos,
irrationality, impermanence, repugnance-was fair game for
Dada’s proponents.
Characteristics of Dadaism

• Shock Value
• To intentionally shock and provoke audience.
• Used shock as means of challenging the rules of art.
Characteristics of Dadaism

• Nonsense and Irrational

• Basic concept of the Dada manifestation.
• To express the confusion felt by many people
Characteristics of Dadaism

• Irony
• The simple act creating “art” that is “anti-art” is itself
ironic
• Imbued with an additionally dark humor
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
“The Fountain “ “‘L.H.O.O.Q “

“Elle a chaud au cul”

Max Ernst (1891-1976)
“The Elephant Celebes’ “Pietà or Revolution by Night”
Francis Picabia (1879-1953)
“Amorous Parade”
George Grosz
“A Victim of Society” (1919)
Jean/Hans Arp
“Rectangles Arranged According
to the Laws of Chance”
The Simpson “The Scream” “Dada Poster Poems”
Issues
• They rejected the modernist conception of the autonomy of art or
“art for the art’s sake.” Art in its various forms.
• The Dadaists saw World War I as a logical consequence of
bourgeois culture and civilization and its emphasize on rationalism
and nationalism.
• The rejection of all “isms” as well as all cultural norms, standards
and values.
Surrealism
Surrealism
• movement in visual art and literature, flourishing in 
Europe between World Wars I and II.
• Surrealism’s emphasis was not on negation but on
positive expression.
• Comes from the French word “surréalisme” means
beyond reality
Historical Context
• coined by the French avant-garde poet Guillaume
Apollinaire in the preface to a play performed in 1917.
• The Surrealism movement was influenced but the ideas
of Frued.
• It grew out of the Dadaism movement in many respects.
• Many artists were influenced by major events such as
World War I and The Great Depression.
Characteristics
• The element of surprise
• Free association
• Uncensored thought
• Dream-like subject matter
• Spontaneous techniques
Examples: automatic drawing, frottage and decalcomania
Andre Messon
Meditation on an Oak Leaf Battle of the Fishes 1927
Joan Miro
• Carnival of Horlequin, 1924 The Hunter (Catalan Landscape) 1923-1924
Salvador Dali
Rene Magritte
Thank you!!!