The History of Dadaism essays

The History of Dadaism essays Spawn from an age of war and inhumanity, Dadaism is a pure reflection of its artists feelings toward civilization and its people during the early 20th century. In an act of protest, followers and artists of the Dadaism movement went against the normalcy of what was known as art and began to express their ideas senselessly using absurdities and unusual objects to create a multitude of paintings and sculptures. Gone from the mind of the Dadaist was the picture of real life and out sprang a new world of dreams and eccentric ideas brought to life through art. Although short lived, aspects of Dadaism are still seen in todays abstract art. Max Ernst was one such Dadaist whose artworks depict the era through a variety of forms but with a concentration of oil on canvas. A Friends Reunion/Au Rendez-vous des amis was painted in 1922 by the Dadaist Max Ernst. The oil on canvas painting depicts a group of friends dressed in formal attire conjugated on a rock formation listening to the music of one friend being played on what appears to be a piano dance floor. There is a list, possibly a guest list, floating in the forefront of the painting on the lower right side. Several of the guests have numbers scribed over their heads, these numbers appear to match those on the list, fortifying the statement of the paper being a guest list. A man in a yellow suit is show with his arms outstretched from his side; palms open readying themselves to come together, perhaps to applaud the busy pianist. Several of the friends have heads in hues of black, white, and gray only, segregating them from the others. Perhaps this signifies those friends that are no longer in the physical but are now part of the after life. There is a woman in the back of the group to the right s tanding with her back to the others. Although her back has been turned, it is obvious she has not left the group entirely because her head is turned in unison with the...