We were talking about Hitler in my European avant-garde class and the artist John Heartfield came to mind. I had learned about Heartfield last year and I remembered how he would use appropriated images to make his art, which commented on the politics of his time. His most famous work was produced in Germany during the1920s and 30s. He used photomontage to create his posters, which usually made a strong statement. Much of his work reflects his early interest in Dada and communism. His work was generally mass-produced in poster form or in newspapers and magazines. It stands as evidence of the rise in the influence of the mass media at this time and of the powerful relationship it had with politics. Much of Heartfield’s work shows a clever and sharp response to significant events of the era.

Heartfield would take images from the media, re-contextualizing them creating his own image. He focused his work on the politics of Adolph Hitler. With these images Heartfeild would create very powerful yet humorous photomontages pointing out the many problems with Hitler. He felt his artwork was the best way he could voice himself and criticize what was going on in Germany at the time. In the picture below we can see Heartfield’s 1936 piece Have no fear – He’s a vegetarian. The bird symbolizes France and the man in the left hand corner is Label, the premiere of France. The image is suggesting that Hitler cannot be trusted. Heartfield continued to make many images just like this one. His use of photography had such an impact that Hitler eventually put out an arrest for him causing him to flee from Germany.

I like Heartfield’s work because it was cutting edge at the time. Not a lot of people were experimenting with photomontage or collage during this time period. Heartfeild managed to use this medium in an artistic sense as well as make strong political statements that really caught the eye of the viewer. I think his work can be compared to advertisments in that it uses witty remarks and strong visuals to attract an audience. Today this type of artwork is very common. The idea of manipulating images has only been further developed. With programs like Photoshop anyone can experiment with photography. Heartfield was one of the first artists to use images from the media and recontextualize them. He definitely started a craze that will only continue to grow especially with the technology available today.
John Heartfield, Have No Fear — He’s a Vegetarian, 1936

Another example of Heartfields work:

John Heartfield, Adolph the Superman, July 1932

-Allison