Contextual Influences Photo montage

Dave McKean

Dreaming – Comic cover

-Dave McKean has used very modern techniques to create this image.

- Surrealism art is often referred to as a nightmarish dream land. With the title being ‘Dreaming’ it suggests this is something that would be featured in a dream, so to me it fits the Surrealist category perfectly.

- I really like how this image looks. I like the way how you can clearly see a face but if you look at the shadows you can make out shapes, like the crow and a hand, which to me gives away what this picture is about, like an insight to the book.

Hannah Hoch

-Bauerliches Brautpaar (Peasant Wedding Couple) 1931 

- This kind of art tends to be referred to as Dada and surreal.

- Dada art is art made from pieces of found scrap images. They use these images to create a brand new piece of art.

- Some of Hannah Hoch’s work is much like the work of Salvador Dali because of the fact they both do very surreal work.

-In this image the first thing you see are the two figures stood at the front. With this piece of art being called ‘Peasant Wedding Couple‘ I would assume they are the couple to be wed.

-The woman in the image has been given a Gorrilas face which suggests that Hannah may think, being a peasant and doing this kind of work is only for the animals.

-There is also a black man stood next to her. This may also suggest that work like this is also for black people, this may seem racist but at the time it wouldnt have been seen that way. 
John Heartfield

Jesus

-John Heartfield was considered the pioneer of photomontage as he would use his art work as a weapon and to help create anti Nazi movements.

-I think this picture is trying to say that the Nazi’s were not just killing of people but there beliefs as well.

-The way John Heartfield has done this picture I think is really good. At first glance I would have thought this image could have been on Photoshop because of how well it is done. E.g. colours fit well, its hard to se a definite edge between each separate image.

Kurt Schwitters

-     The Merz

-Here Kurt Schwitters has made a piece of art that was really unique at the time.

-This picture is made during the Dada movement but Kurt Schwitters went about making it different to any body else during that era.

-I really like this picture for one main reason, and it is that it has no hidden political meaning.

-Most people who did Dada art (like Hannah Hoch) would try to put a hidden political message in it, but Kurt Schwitters hasn’t. He made this picture because not everything has to be political. Sometimes art can just be a pretty picture.