Dada Artist- Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch was born 01/11/1889 and died 31/05/1978. She was the pioneer of the photomontage and was known for her political art from the Dada movement.
The way Hoch worked, was by combining unrelated images to provide a variety of shocking and interesting art works. She was an inspiration to many artist's - present and future- including other Dadaists,  artist's part of the surrealist movement,  post modern artist's and those part of the sculptural installation.  Hoch was interested in challenging the ideas of a women's place within society,  she wanted to use her artwork to provide a sense of power as a woman and to influence and encourage other women to feel free and strong.
Hochs most important artwork includes: Cut with the kitchen knife through the last weimar Beer-Belly cultural Epoch in Germany (1919-20),
Heads of state (1918-20),
Industrial landscape (1967),
High Finance (1923) as well as many others.

Heads of state (1918-20) is an image consisting of German president Fredrich Elbert and his minister of Defence,  Gustav Noske. Hoch decided to place the men in an out of context situation by wearing bathing suits,  providing a silliness to the image. The background is an embroidery pattern of flowers and butterflies surrounding a woman which is quite feminine. The overall image is humorous but contains a powerful message.  Hoch has positioned the men in a idiotic situation taking away their masculinity. Also showing that they have a disregard for the serious financial  and political problems, which was faced by the people of Germany at this time. The background represents the income and occupation for many German women,  including Hoch. It is also a statement of the differences between men and women.

High Finance (1923) is an image consisting of two bankers with over exaggerated heads, one of which is Sir John Herschel, a British chemist and astronomer.  Hoch has paid close attention to composition and the message she is portraying.  One banker has his head sliced in half with 2 shotguns aimed at the banker behind him. There is alot going on within this image, including providing a sense of industrialism and it represents the financial power in post WW1 Germany. The bankers are an important part of this photomontage as they provide the link between military complexities and those who financed them.