Born to Rock the Boat: Living and Breathing Dada

While the literature on John Heartfield, born Helmut Hertzfeld, was quite short, I believe it offered ample history on Heartfield’s life. In fact, after reading The Life and Times of John Heartfield and looking at the galleries displaying some of his works, I can pinpoint specific influences that led John Heartfield in the direction he wound up going.

Whether he was designing book jackets, creating ads and covers for magazines, publishing various satirical, political magazines, or showing photomontages in order to convey his message to the masses, Heartfield was not only fighting “one man’s war against Hitler,” but he was also fighting one man’s war against blindly following leaders and the masses.

John Heartfield, the child of a socialist writer and a political activist, seemed to have been destined to break the mold. Heartfield, after starting out as a commercial artist, became an influential leader of the Dada Movement, in which “the artists were attempting to protest war, greed and the corrupt powers that existed” (www. towson.edu/heartsfield/art/dada.html).

Heartfield certainly protested war, greed, and corrupt powers within the Third Reich. Not only is his Dada agenda reflected in his life choices (changing his German birth name to the English-sounding John Heartfield, faking a nervous breakdown to get out of the military, joining the Berlin Club Dada, naming his first born child “Tom”, co-editing and publishing various satirical, political magazines, and fleeing his home country), but it is also very evident in his artwork.

One piece that sticks out in my mind is Police Commissioner Zorgiebel (1929), which depicts Heartfield preparing to slit the throat of the Nazi supporter. It was used as political satire in The Worker’s Illustrated Newspaper. A lot of Heartfield’s work revolves around his disgust toward the Third Reich, Hitler, and supporters of the regime. Another provacitve piece is Blood and Iron (1934), which shows four bloody hatchets tied together to form the swastika that the Nazi regime made a a popular symbol for their ideals and goals. This artwork not only reflects Heartfield’s opinions and ideals, but it also reflects the Dada agenda.

I've included an image that was mentioned in the text, yet not available for viewing in the galleries on the site (or at least I was not able to see it). Entitled "After 10 Years-Fathers and Sons", this was Heartfield's first photomontage. To me, it is incredibly moving. The flashback in the bottom right corner of youthful, more "whole" men which is placed beside a line of skeletons represents the dramatic change that took place inside of every man after ten years of WWI. Men were left skeletons. After serving in the military for years, they are still humans, but are more or less dead inside. Unique attributes and intelligence are gone. The men are blank slates--- just bones.