Communicative Action for the Masses

Propaganda: the word that comes off negative, but gathers many people behind it.  When it comes to art, propaganda has been used over all points in history for the massive support. Propaganda is the leading force to bring unity to groups of people, leading their beliefs down a certain desirable path through the use of images and word play. 

World War I: the words that created mass panic throughout Europe.  This conflict changed everything for the people who lived through it.  This is the discord that the Dadaist movement unfolded from.

When it evolved to the area of Berlin in 1920, there was still tension.  Those who started to produce art under the Dada name were reacting to the horrors that plagued their country.  As the political atmosphere was turning and different parties exploded in to the scenes of life, the artists evolved, using their works to enlighten and mock the power hungry. 

Gustav Klutsis and John Heartfield, took the technique of Photomontage and created a form of communicative action that he wanted to reach every class in Germany.  Together they created propaganda as a model for artistic purposes.  The word went from negative to being used to address public happenings aesthetically, and they were able to deliver a message to the public, leading them through a thought process that questioned the politicization. 

One of these images being: Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk, which took a political photograph and transformed it to be a powerful form of mass communication.  In this image Heartfield covered Hitler’s chest with an x-ray image, replacing the heart with a swastika and the liver with an iron cross.  The title says just as much as the image he produced.  In 1932 when he created this photomontage, Hitler was quickly rising to power, and with that power came the contributions from the wealthy.  The Gold.  And all he gave back to them was the junk he spewed out. 

Produced originally for the AIZ magazine that Heartfield frequently collaborated with, this composition became widespread as a political poster for the leftist party.

Photomontage used as propaganda that was so influential, Heartfield was one of the first to be persecuted under the Nazi regime in 1933.