The Dada archivist, Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters and Berlin Dada

Peter Lang

2023

1 volume (289 pages) ; illustrations

23 cm

anglais

978-1-80079-889-2

"The archive of the German artist Hannah Höch (1889-1978) has long been an important source of material for historians researching the interwar avant-garde and artists associated with Berlin Dada. This book explores Höch's practices of organisation when assembling the documents in her house outside Berlin from 1939 until her death. Through extensive research, the author argues that Höch's archive should be considered not just a collection of documents but a work in its own right, intimately connected with the artist's daily life. Noting the importance of understanding the mechanisms of this work, the book suggests that Höch took charge of both preserving and exploring the possibilities of Dada long after the group had been officially dissolved. The file that Höch assembled on her friend, the artist Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), plays an important part in the book, its content revealing how domestic habits infused both artists' practices. Juxtaposing Höch's archive and Schwitters's Merzbau, the author argues for an interactive movement between the two that has fundamental implications on how we understand both artists' oeuvres"

Archive work -- Postcards and anecdotes -- Dada domesticity -- Fighting the archive..

Ressources documentaires

Musée national Picasso-Paris