John Heartfield

Reading about John Heartfield’s history was really intriguing. Being able to read some background information about an artist really sheds light on where they find their purpose.  He had a rough childhood, considering he was abandoned by his parents, but somehow found a way to make something of himself.

     John Heartfield grew up in a time of war, but also a time of inspiration and culture. War brings forth many opportunities of chaos that for artists can be made into a masterpiece. As mentioned in his background information, during the period of 1921-1932 Heartfield use photography as a weapon by turning his attention to the art of photomontage. His photomontages were very provocative and controversial. Two of which that were dicussed stood out to me from just title alone, but when I viewed them I was really blown away. The first is “After 10 Years: Fathers and Sons”, which Heartfield created on the 10^th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. It shows a Nazi dressed in uniform in the foreground with skeletons lines up like soldiers in the back, and at the bottom left there are children dressed up as Nazi soldiers. To me this shows that war is a never ending cycle. Fathers died fighting for what they believed was a just cause, and their children will fight and die just the same. The second painting, “Use Photography as a Weapon” (also posted at top), is a pretty harsh photo, but I feel like it’s fitting for the time period. Heartfield is using this photomontage to cut a supporter of the Nazi party deep just like the Nazis have other people with their horrible acts of murder and violence. I think Heartfield was very brave in creating his pieces because they were so controversial he could have faced serious consequences. However, he did not let the risk hold him, and that is admirable.