Author: allen12601@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg

Compare the ways in which both artists responded to the cultural changes at the start of the twentieth century

Both artists have had a huge influence on the evolution of artwork that was typical in the very early 1900s to transform it into what we now know today as modern art. Both Hoch and Nash were revolutionary in their styles and their movements. Hoch used photo collages and was part of the dada movement which was a group of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead of expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works. This group emerged through the times of WW1 Similarly, Nash emerged through the times of WW1 after he has served as a soldier in the war in which he used as inspiration for his surrealist style of art which he used to paint landscapes with symbols of WW1 embedded.

For example, In ‘Cut With the Kitchen Knife Through The Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’ Hoch demonstrates her photo collage style in which she uses the photo collage to create a busy and populated piece of art. Throughout this piece of art, we can not only see representations of Dadaism through text but also in the images that she has chosen to use. Hoch uses photos of political connotations such as the map in the bottom right-hand corner of the lower 3rd Which is a map of the places in which women were allowed to vote, the juxtaposition of this map subverts the views that this map suggests of women can only vote and have power in certain places. This reflects the dada movement well as it shows that she is rejecting the logic of those in power at the time as well as protesting through art against the bourgeois. Hoch also uses the image of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the man standing off centre in the middle third of the pice to further emphasize these aspects of her work.

In contrast, if we look at Nash’s ‘menin road’  He demonstrates his surrealist style of art through the painting of this landscape. Nash uses the landscape to demonstrate his surrealistic style by using paradoxes of colour, for example, the use of the blue in the sky is still blue in which is associated with the sky however he darkens the shade of it to create or more surrealist feel to the painting additional he uses the white rays of sunlight which again creates a more surrealist feel to the painting as white rays are not Shawn from the sun however it is still very closely similar to the typical yellow rays we see in other pieces of art. The scale of the foreground that is prevalent in all of Nash’s pieces also creates a surrealistic painting, he does the buy putting a huge emphasis on the foreground and landscape of the pice which makes in seem almost infinite from the perspective of the reader.

 

Culture, identity and community:

In this piece of art by Hannah Hoch illustrated in 1925, we can see that the artist has recontextualised different aspects of different cultures into one photo collage. For example, the statue in the centre of the frame is a Congolese sculpture, the berry trees either side of the sculpture were published in an article on cures for malaria in Die Koralle in 1926. and finally, the human head placed at eyeliner in the centre of the frame was from a german magazine. It was very typical of the Dada movement to question the norms of art at the time hence the reason Hoch has removed all identity from each image and recontextualised them into one piece of art. In this piece, we could see a potential subversion of the typical views of communities at the time especially in Europe where they were much of the belief that their culture was far superior to others.  Hoch does this by placing an image of a german model on a statue of Congolese culture.

Art, creativity and the imagination:

Hoch uses the power of art to explore different cultures and question the Bourgeois views on the art of the time which was typical of Dada artists. Hoch used a photo collage in order to create a piece of art with no context. This piece of art explores and subverts the Bourgeois views on the art of the time by using a photo collage this creates a piece of art in which has no one exact meaning and could be interpreted in many different ways. This Dada style of art was part of the modernisation of art in which art became a lot more abstract and open to interpretation.  

What are the key elements of Rezkallah’s work? 

• He parodies ads from around the 1950s to subvert cultural stereotypes from the time of the original advert
• Uses over-exaggeration to contrast the two beliefs from different times 
• He uses intertextuality by making references to older adverts  
• Uses it to subvert gender roles and stereotypes of the 1950s and modern era 

 

Why is Rezkallah’s work on identity and representation important?

Rezkallahs work shows us the evolution of our mindsets but the fact that advertising hasn’t modernised along with our mindset specifically towards gender roles, stereotypes and how women and men are portrayed in adverts.

 

Comparison of Rezkallah’s work and another piece of work (Dimond advert)

I will be exploring how identity is portrayed and how identity effects this visual piece of work. This visual piece offers multiple themes and perspectives on the issue trying to be addressed by the poster. Identity affects the perspectives of work and also helps us to ask questions about how can this text or visual piece offer multiple perspectives, how are we affected by the text or visual piece as well as how do language and culture stereotypes affect and change the way we look at the text or visual piece but also how do the texts and visual pieces of work affect our view on culture and language and can they form stereotypes.

The girl on the left is holding a book more specifically the book is little red riding hood which has been banned in some places in the US and the girl on the right is holding a gun. The two objects are the centre of attention of the poster as they are in the foreground. The contrast between the two objects shows that the book is a symbol of education however the gun is a symbol of violence and death. This message that could be trying to be portrayed could be that the wrong things have been banned.

We could also say that they are reversing the roles of racial stereotypes and their relationships with certain objects. For example, we may associate books and education with privilege and wealth which is often stereotyped to be associated with white people. The gun that represents violence and crime is often associated with people with black/coloured skin. This could be displaying the message of equal rights possible or educating children to understand that those stereotypes arent true.