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Broderick Lemke
ART 115 MIDTERM (Spring 2017)
Compose a DEFENCE for the DADA esthetic and specifically refer to 3 works of art
(among those noted in the syllabus) in your argument.
Dadaism was a necessary art movement that allowed art to embrace the incorporation of

social issues and expanded aesthetic. The artists of the movement posed questions about society,

art, and chance. Each of these questions created not only intrigue in their work, but when

properly analyzed and considered, raised questions about everyday life.

One common aesthetic in art throughout time has been an appreciation of nature.

Landscapes serve as an artists attempt to capture a natural environment, to show the beauty of

vegetation, the sky and more. There is something inherently beautiful about nature, whether that

be from the golden ratio, color theory, or some other concept we do not fully understand. Works

that incorporate elements of chance attempt to portray a similar beauty, the beauty of natural

occurrences. Similar to when a landscape artist stumbles across the perfect river scene, an artist

can find a natural beauty among the randomness of squares collaged in a random formation

created by chance. Jean Arp used this technique in his Untitled piece from 1917, and has

captured a profound beauty in the way that they forms come together. Pieces that utilize chance

from the Dada tradition embrace principles that other forms of art are based upon, and build

upon them to find beauty in random forms outside nature.

Beyond chance, dada artists found inspiration in the absurdity of the world. Many works

by Dadaists aim to point out the ridiculous nature of war, greed or injustice. In order to point out

the absurd fashion in which the world operates, the artists were required to consider new

aesthetics to portray their views. In doing so, artists found several techniques that jolted their

audience out of a complacent view, promoting critical thought. Juxtaposition is present in many
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Dada works, including Dompteuse by Hannah Hoch, and Poverty is a Great Radiance from

Within by George Grosz. Dompteuse combines feminine and masculine features onto a figure,

forcing the user to question the gender of the subject. By combining features that do not fit

together, Hoch asks the viewer to question their conceptions of gender. Similarly, by placing a

piece of poetry that venerates the poor alongside an image of a sickly family, Grosz presents the

viewer with a problem; How can one reconcile that poverty is claimed to bring virtue when faced

with the harsh reality of looking at a starving and dying family? The juxtapositions in both cases

serve as a catalyst for interpretation that is difficult to ignore.

Furthering their questioning, Dada artists strove to question art itself. This is not a new

concept, as impressionist painters questioned the aesthetic in which they were required to paint.

However, Dada artists took this to an extreme. In protest of the adoration and value of art,

Marcel Duchamp created sculptures utilizing found objects, which he called readymades. One

example of this is Duchamps piece Fountain, in which he placed a urinal on its side and signed

a fake name on it. This served to question what a gallery would consider art and place on display,

but it also poses questions about the value of art today. In November 1999, a 1964 replica of the

piece sold for $1.7 million dollars, raising the question of what is truly valued in art. A piece that

conceivably took very little effort to produce, sold for more money than many people will make

in a life time, something Duchamp would likely either be angered at or amused by, perhaps both.

By utilizing various techniques, such as chance, questioning art, and questioning society,

Dada artists changed the art world. They were not content accepting the aesthetics that came

before them, and they changed art that came after them. If Dada artists had not raised these

questions, art may have been stuck in an aesthetic realm, rather than embracing the reality of

questioning everything and using art as a tool to do so.