Hannah Höch Aus der Sammlung: Aus einem ethnographischen Museum [From the collection: From an ethnographical museum] 1929 © DACS, London 2023

Biography

Born 1889
Died 1978
Nationality German
Birth place Gotha
Death place Berlin

Born in Gotha, Germany, Höch studied in Berlin where she later worked as a designer for a publishing firm from 1916 to 1926. She met the future Dada artist Raoul Hausmann in 1915 and through him, subsequently, became involved with the Berlin dada group. Although she made abstract paintings, Höch is best known for producing satirical and disturbing photomontages. These focus on the situation in Weimar Germany from a woman's perspective, combining political commentary, gender issues, questions of modernity and a critique of the bourgeoisie.

Glossary terms

Glossary terms

Collage

An image constructed from found materials, such as photographs, paper or fabric, glued to a surface, sometimes with additional painted or drawn elements. It is an art form particularly associated with Dada and Surrealism.

Dada

A radical artistic and literary movement that was a reaction against the cultural climate that supported the First World War. The Dadaists took an anti-establishment attitude, questioning art's status and favouring performance and collage over traditional art techniques. Many Dadaists went on to become involved with Surrealism.

Photomontage

The combination of two or more photographs (or pieces of them) to form a single image. The technique came to prominence as a Dadaist form of political protest during the First World War and was later adopted by Surrealist and Pop artists.

Exhibitions

Ended
Surreal Encounters | Collecting the Marvellous
  • Ended Sun 11 Sep 2016
Modern
Ended
Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage
  • Ended Sun 27 Oct 2019
Modern