Dadaism and Pop Art

Running Head: DADAISM AND POP ART 1

IWT Task 1; Dadaism and Pop Art

Angela Costa

Western Governor’s University

IWT Task 1; Dadaism and Pop Art

Artistic interpretations have changed and molded tremendously throughout history. Many historical artists found art as an outlet for what was happening currently in their time periods. Dadaism began in Switzerland in 1916 as a response to World War I. Influenced by the earlier Cubism, this style of art ranged from paintings, sculptures, poetry, and photography. Dadaism is well known for the way it ridiculed materialistic and nationalistic attitudes. They were un-conventionalist in every manor. The Dada artists opposed and resented the social classes who thought that they could control the working class. Dadaists were disgusted by the nationalism that fed into World War 1 and were against any form of group leadership or dictatorship. They were upset that the modern European society would allow war to happen and this is how they knew to protest the idea of war. And if war was to happen then any traditions in any facet where thrown out the window, including art. They believed the art at this time had no meaning and if they were to continue to create art, they would make non-art to show that they did not agree with the current dramas. Dadaist tried to separate themselves from society norms in every which way they could. Even the explanation of how they got the name “Dada” screams unconventional. Some say that the name “Dada”, which is French for hobbyhorse, was adopted from co-founder Richard Huelsenbeck, who claims that he came up with the name by “plunging a knife at random into a dictionary”. (Wolf, 2014)

One of the core principals of Dadaism was the belief in freedom of expression and an anti-war support. Also, most of the artist wanted anyone, or more so, everyone to be able to enjoy and interpret their work regardless of their cultural background. It is hard to label Dadaism as to what characteristics they followed. The arts where intended to be very cryptic so that the viewer could interpret it in many different ways. They only followed on rule; to follow the idea that there are no rules. (Koenig, 2014) One of the more well known Dada artists was Marcel Duchamp. He bent all rules and norms when he put his sculpture “Fountain” on display. It was simply a man’s urinal with a fake signature from R. Mutt, of which he made up. He also was responsible for the updated and revised picture of the ever famous Mona Lisa. Only Duchamp put his own twist on to it. He added a mustache and wrote obscenities on the bottom of the painting. This

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