Hannah Hoch Photomontages

I came across Hannah Hoch's art in the New Media Art Introduction. I decided to delve a little deeper into her art and found it very interesting. She seems to be a very powerful artist. She is well-known for being the only female member of DADA and was one of the first artists to experiment with photomontage. She related each of her photomontages to her own life. She specifically tried to convey her feelings as being a woman in an art movement which was primarily run by men in the pre and post-war times that Germany faced. I found her art particularly interesting because of its "unrealistic" representation of her reality. Because she didn't use just one real photo as a representation of subservient woman in World War II Germany, but instead manipulated many photographs in combination with some scrap paper/objects, her art is very unique. It sends her strong personal message. It also seems almost other worldly because the people in her photomontages don't look realistic. She would sometimes combine pictures of different body parts to create a person. She would even explore distorting reality by placing pictures of women's heads on male's bodies. When she began creating these photomontages, they evoked very serious messages in a serious manner. Over time she began making her montages more humorous.

Her artwork is not just creative and fun to look at, but very meaningful. She illustrates the subservience of women to men in Germany before and after WWII. She shows how men dominated not only her world (because she was the only female in DADA at the time), but also throughout the world. For example, the top image I have displayed is one created by Hannah Hoch. This image conveys a message of women being viewed as sexual objects because of the bare female legs. The image also shows that these women are being watched by men because of the eye under the legs. Much of her work shows her feminist ideals in a male dominated society.

I think her work shows true genius. It is invigorating and thought-provoking. I think it took a lot of courage and creativity to not only be one of the first to make art out of a photomontage, but to also convey such a strong and controversial message. She was risking a lot to create this art as a woman during this time and it probably inspired many other women of that time and even today. I can't think of any way she could have improved her work because it is so unique to herself, her message, and the time period. I really enjoyed her work. Seeing her art has helped me brainstorm for even more ways to create a "fabricated reality" of the current society that I live in today through scanned images and photographs.