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PHOTOMONTAGES
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15.10.11 - 03.12.11
John Heartfield was not a photographer; he was a creator of new worlds and realities, juxtaposing existing images with witty slogans to deliver a simple yet effective message. Born Helmut Herzfeld in Berlin at the end of the nineteenth century, he was better known from 1916 onwards by the anglicised version of his name, which was designed to align himself with Germanys wartime enemy at the same time as obscuring his own identity, nationality and familial relationships. The young avant-garde of the early twentieth century had shunned the bourgeois individualism of painting. Heartfields new name and profession, as photomonteur were the perfect tools in making high impact visuals for the masses rather than the privileged few. The montages on display here contain the narrative of Heartfields engagement as a political illustrator, from his covers for the left wing publication Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitug (AIZ), to campaign posters for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). They also contain the narrative of Germanys interwar political history as many relate to specific events. Powerfully used as propaganda and advertising, they had an ability to sway public opinion with the immediacy of the message; a message that is always bound up with left wing radical politics. They range in subject matter from impassioned pleas against capitalism to biting satire of fascism. Heartfield often used montage to disrupt signs and symbols: where the Nazi party had misappropriated the Swastika - a positive symbol in many eastern religions - Heartfield subverted its misuse to undermine the hold it was beginning to take on the German publics imagination. The final image displayed here is not from the interwar period, but eight years before Heartfields death in 1968. After many years in exile, working as a designer of theatrical posters and book jackets, or travelling with retrospective exhibitions of his work, Never Again from 1960 was a return to the politicised images of Heartfields 1930s heyday. The white dove, a biblical peace symbol and an emblem of communism is impaled on a dagger. There is a simple clarity in this violent metaphor- the atrocities of World War II must not be allowed to reoccur.
JEAN HEARTFIELD
He knows how to create these images of our life and struggle, arresting and gripping for millions of people who themselves are part of that struggle. His art is art in Lenins sense, for it is a weapon in the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat. - Louis Aragon 1935.
WORK IN PUBLISHING
Heartfield worked as an illustrator for various publications in the late 1910s and 1920s, including the periodicals of his brother Wieland Herzfeldes Malik Verlag (Malik press). It was in 1924 however that his engagement with the pro-communist Arbeiter-IllustrierteZeitug (AIZ) began with the cover image Ten Years Later: Fathers and Sons, a somewhat prophetic image meant to serve as a warning against a second wave of pro-war sentiment. It would be his employment as a cover artist at AIZ, lasting for fourteen years that would define much of his career and forms the basis of this exhibition. Heartfield used the cover of the AIZ as a space for anti-capitalist messages and the lampooning of political figures, more often than not Adolf Hitler. In 1932 he produced one of his most reproduced images for AIZ- The Meaning of the Hitler Salute: Little Man Requests Big Donations. Although Hitler would not become Chancellor until 1933, Heartfields image underlines the fact that the Nazi party was financed by big business years before it came to power. It is a typical example of a lesebilder a picture designed to be read, juxtaposing image and text to create a message. The caption comes in two parts- the title or inscripto- The Meaning of the Hitler Salute (Der Sinn des Hitlergrusses) coupled with a lengthier explanation or subcripto- millions stand behind me (millionen stehen hinter mir) Little man requests big donations (Kleiner Mann bittet um grosse gaben). It generates discourse between image and text becoming a verbal / visual statement. It is also an example of Heartfields use of inverted symbols, here Hitler, the leader of men becomes dwarfed by the corpulent excess of capitalism, his hand flops backwards to nonchalantly receive his millions disrupting the usually authoritarian gesture of the Hitler salute.
9 Side . Newcastle upon Tyne . NE1 JE Tel: 0191 232 2208 Email: side.gallery@amber-online.com Web: www.amber-online.com Open: Tuesday - Saturday, 11am-5pm
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