Art as a resistance against war: A look at Dadaism
- Hanrike de Bruyne
- Mar 10
- 5 min read
During war art is often manipulated into propaganda to portray a false narrative. In the form of propaganda, artists create art for the government to gain support. These artworks are manipulated in such a way that they portray a strong and brave government. Simultaneously, this art performs the role of dehumanising the enemy (Coates, 2024). However, art is not only used to spin the government’s tale by persuading artists to create work to be used as a medium for resistance. On the contrary, some artists use art to showcase their disapproval, critiquing the government during times of war. Artists respond to war by revealing disguised truths rather than the government's attempt at presenting manipulations of the war. The consequences of this expose the emotional, psychological, and societal traumas that are brought by war. In this way, war influences art, forming new art movements like Surrealism and Dadaism. Consequently, the Dada art movement will be explored to highlight how an art movement can comment on war and inspire resistance among artists and society.
Dada was a direct response to the First World War, rooted in the disgust experienced towards such a devastating time (Jones, 2014). This movement began when a patriotic German poet named Hugo Ball failed three times to pass the medical test he needed to join the frontlines. Deterred from joining the war as a soldier, the poet settled instead on viewing the war from afar and decided to visit Belgium. The frontlines shocked him – transforming a patriot into a pioneer. Ball became a symbol for the resistance of the war through the medium of art. With this raw passion, he fled to neutral Switzerland and started the Cabaret Voltaire with Richard Huelsenbeck. The Cabaret Voltaire would become the birthplace of Dada (Jones, 2014).
The Cabaret Voltaire marked the beginning of a movement when Hugo Ball and Richard Huelsenbeck, a German artist, invited others to use art, performance, and poetry to make various statements. Essentially, they utilised art to mock the war. Their motive for such a radical expression relied on the fact that only art as ridiculous as what they created, would be a valid reaction against the senselessness of war (Lesso, 2023). Romanian artist Tristen Tzara described the typical nonsensical expressions of creativity as 'explosions of elective imbecility' (Lesso, 2023).
The Dadaist movement challenged the state of the world at war, mirroring its madness through the expression of art. Dadaism played a role in transforming how art is perceived, disrupting the idea of traditional art and challenging the ways that art had previously been accepted. Therefore, Dada can be recognised as both an anti-war and anti-art movement (The Dalí) as it embodied the notion that art should reflect the state of the world, not merely an imagining of what could be. Through nonsensical art, Dada further exposed the truth of the fragmented and nonsensical world at the time. Dadaists stood firm in their opinions against war and the killing of people, portraying their views through their art in reflecting the current struggles experienced by the people. This shattered the fictional world trying to be created elsewhere as a mask for what was true.
I am led to an important question: How could art rooted in logic and sense depict the nonsense and illogicality of the ongoing war? It could be that traditional art would not suffice in showing how broken the world was. Thus, the idea of traditional art needed to be torn down. So, it was believed that the deconstruction of art in its traditional form was the only way in succeeding to reflect the devastating effects of war.
This is where the irrational art movement Dada came to be a resistance against war.
Dada embraced the nonsensical, the childishness, as well as the chaos. Its name had to reflect this foolishness. For this reason, Hugo Ball and Richard Huelsenbeck coined their movement 'Dada', meaning 'yes, yes' in Romanian and 'rocking horse' in French (Lesso, 2023). Interestingly so, the word 'dada' is also one of the first words most children will ever say, before being brainwashed into the boring rigidity of our society (Lesso, 2023). This irrational art movement had one goal in mind: nonsense, and they succeeded in finding a name to match this aim.
Dada’s purpose was to challenge social norms by creating art that shocks, confuses, or creates outrage. The people who joined this movement were self-acclaimed rebels of the art world (The Dalí). Dadaism did not follow a singular style aesthetic. Rather, it was a collage of different approaches and methods that aligned with the goal of confusing audiences. Dada is often considered the first conceptual art movement, influencing the inspiration of new art movements like Surrealism (Lesso, 2023).
Marcel Duchamp, a notable Dadaism artist, is recognised for his infamous work Fountain. His artwork consisted of a porcelain urinal signed 'R.Mutt', inspiring controversy as to what can be regarded as art and what not (The Dalí). Additionally, his work, labeled 'LHOOQ', is a reaction against traditional art (The Art Story: Dada). Furthermore, he created a postcard of the Mona Lisa painting with an addition of a moustache, and goatee, as well as the letters L.H.O.O.Q. written on it. This was a response to the Mona Lisa skyrocketing into a famous artwork only after it gained publicity from being stolen. The French pronunciation of the letters LHOOQ translate into 'She has a hot ass', creating outrage (The Art Story: Dada).
George Grosz, a German who chose the name 'George' as a sign of his war protest, used satire in his art by sending ‘care packages’ to the front. These packages contained useless stuff, including ironed white shirts (Jones, 2014). Further, Otto Dix, a German artist, demonstrated how the war damages people through his paintings. His artwork Card-Playing War Cripples portrays men playing cards while breathing through tubes and using their feet to hold their cards through the medium of a collage. This was a comment on how men are no longer men but rather emery collages (Jones, 2014).
The look of Dada may be one of absurdity, but to Dadaists, this war itself was more absurd (Trachtman, 2006). 'Dada explains the war more than the war explains Dada' (Trachtman, 2006) - This French saying has been used to describe the notion of Dada. Dadaism might invoke confusion and outrage, but should wars not inspire this same reaction for all its nonsensicalness and for the harm it inflicts?
Bibliography:
Coates, G. 2024, September 17. The Impact of War on Art: How Conflict Shapes Creativity and Culture: Gavin Coates. Naturalist Gallery blogs [Web log post]. Available: https://naturalist.gallery/blogs/journal/the-impact-of-war-on-art-how-conflict-shapes-creativity-and-culture#:~:text=Art%20and%20war%20have%20shared,Apply%20your%20art [2025, February 27].
Jones, J. 2014. The first world war in German art: Otto Dix's first-hand visions of horror. The Guardian [Online], 14 May. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/14/first-world-war-german-art-otto-dix [2025, February 27].
Lesso, R. 2023. What Is Dadaism and Where Did it Start? TheCollector.com [Online], 31 May. Available: https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-dadaism-and-where-did-dada-start/ [2025, February 27].
The Art Story: Dada. [Online]. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/dada/ [2025, February 27].
The Dalí Museum: Dadaism. [Online]. https://thedali.org/dali-library-guide-1/dada-2/#:~:text=Infamously%20called%20the%20%E2%80%9Canti%2Dart,%2C%20confuse%2C%20or%20outrage%20people [2025, February 27].
Trachtman, P. 2006. A Brief History of Dada, Smithsonian Magazine [Online], May. Available: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dada-115169154/ [2025, February 27].
Edited by Daniela Schultz
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