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John Heartfield at the Getty
I wrote the following review in 2006 after seeing the exhibit Agitated Images: John Heartfield and German Photomontage, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. That LA artists have not made a bigger deal over the exhibition of works by John Heartfield currently at the Getty Museum, is a perfect example of the cool indifference and political disengagement plaguing…
O Blessed Christmas!
Hark the Herald Angels Sing! Machine Gun Clatter! Bomb Blast! Poison Gas! The anti-militarist Christmas message from John Heartfield shown at left was published on December 26, 1935, in the German magazine, Arbeiter-Illustriete Zeitung (AIZ, or “Worker’s Illustrated Paper”). The title of the photomontage, O du fröhliche, O du selige, gnadenbringende Zeit (O joyful, o blessed, miracle-bringing time), was taken…
Elections 2012: Coke vs. Pepsi
I love putting this image out every four years, it tickles me to no end. The photomontage Coca-Cola versus Pepsi-Cola, appears so modern from an aesthetic standpoint, not to mention up to date in a political sense. Scores of viewers will express disbelief over the artwork having been created in 1949. That the artist responsible for the image, Josep Renau,…
Josep Renau: Commitment and Culture
The people of Spain have been celebrating the 100th birthday of the Spanish painter, poster designer, and muralist, Josep Renau, through a number of tributes, not the least of which has been a traveling exhibition; Josep Renau (1907-1982): Commitment and Culture. Organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the University of Valencia, Spain, the exhibit is now running at…
O Tannenbaum! O Tannenbaum!
The yuletide carol, O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas tree) was written in 1820 and based on a German folk melody. German anti-Fascist artist John Heartfield created the above photomontage in 1934 to deride the Nazis who had seized control of his country the year before. The artist titled his work: O Christmas tree in German soil, how bent are thy…
Petition Helps Free Michael Dickinson
In a major trial that challenged an artist’s right to free expression, the British artist Michael Dickinson, who lives in Turkey, was prosecuted by the Turkish government in 2006 for creating a photo-collage seen as “insulting the dignity of the prime minister.” Dickinson faced years in prison for his artwork, but on September 25, 2008, the judge in the case…