Dada

Dada

Dada was, officially, not an art movement, Dada was a literary and artistic movement born in Europe. Anti-aesthetic creations and protest activities, which were enraged by their disgust over World War I.

They mocked anything which they felt had contributed to a senseless war. If society is going in this direction, they said, we'll have no part of it or its traditions especially artistic traditions. They believed that they were non-artists, so they will create non-art. In their opinions art has no meaning.

Using an early form of Shock Art (disturbing imagery), the Dadaists put obscenities, visual puns and everyday objects into the public eye. Marcel Duchamp performed the most notable outrages by painting a moustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa and proudly displaying his sculpture entitled Fountain which was actually a urinal which he added a fake signature.

The public, of course, were disgusted which the Dadaists found wildly encouraging. The movement spread from Zurich to other parts of Europe and New York.

The best-known movement Dada was directly responsible for is Surrealism and Pop Art.

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp is best known for introducing the ready-made object into visual art, co-founding Dada and being affiliated with the Surrealists. Perhaps his greatest contribution is that he almost singlehandedly shifted the focus of art away from visual and onto the more of a mental experience. Because of this Duchamp has had an enormous impact on contemporary art.

French painter and mixed media artist, Marcel Duchamp is considered the father of Object Art, where conceptual art emerged. Although he avoided picking any specific movement, he almost favored Dada and Surrealism. When he signed a snow shovel and called it a work of art, he broke all boundaries, stating that it’s the artistic idea that counts. Duchamp is best known for his humorous works, which include Nude Descending Staircase 1912, Fountain 1917 and In Advance of the Broken Arm 1915.

His next piece of work, 3-Standard Stoppages, 1913 (a question placed in a box), would take him out of the boundaries of conventional art and into new territory (and what is now called Concept Art). He wanted to break the fundamental values of art, which are beauty and craft skill. Bicycle Wheel & Other Readymades, 1915 was his answer to this, he took everyday items, signed them, and declared them a piece of art. In 1917 he submitted a urinal to a show. He signed it and called it The Fountain. The show organisers were not impressed, and The Fountain was 'misplaced' during the exhibition. It disappeared again soon after, although there are replicas of it today. In 1919 Duchamp took a postcard of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and drew a moustache on her and added the caption L.H.O.O.Q and it quickly became a humorous icon of the Dada Art Movement.

During the 1930s, Duchamp was one of the more visible surrealist artists. He was heavily involved in the establishment of major surrealist exhibitions in Paris (1938) and also in New York (1942).

Duchamp died in 1968. Several retrospective exhibitions of his work took place, including at the Tate Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Art Museum. In 2004, his Fountain was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century by 500 artists and critics in Britain. Although he is considered one of the masters of modern art, his work is often considered really boring to look at. Duchamp's work was significant in his day, unlike now it looks a little old-fashioned. He still remains one of the greatest in the history of art in the 20th century. His works can be seen in major contemporary and modern galleries and some of the best art museums in the world.

Francis Picabia(1879-1959)

Born and died in Paris, Francis Picabia was a painter, drawer and poet. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Ecole des Arts décoratifs of Paris. Up to 1908 he painted impressionist pictures in the manner of Sisley. In 1909 the work of the Cubists influenced him. Between 1911 and 1912 he took part in the Sunday meetings at Jacques Villon's studio at the village of Puteaux, together with others, which led to the foundation of the "Golden Section".

In February 1913, he went to the United States for the first time and exhibited at the "Armory Show".

In 1914 he moved to France. In 1915 he went to the United States for the second time and collaborated with Marcel Duchamp. The periodical "291" of the Stieglitz group published proto-dada-works by Picabia, Catherine Rhoades and others. In February he took connection with the Zürich Dada group and contributed to Dada Issue Number 3 (a paper). In 1919 he took part in dada demonstrations. In 1920 he published a periodical, "Cannibale", and in 1921, together with Breton and others, he dissociated himself from orthodox dadaists (the major dadaists). Later he contributed to the periodicals and exhibitions of the surrealists. In 1949 a big retrospective exhibition was organized at the Drouin Gallery, Paris. The catalogue for the exhibition, titled "491", came out in the size of a newspaper