A generic soldier portrait, modified by a landlord who glued his son's head onto the figures five times, provided the conceptual spark for Raoul Hausmann’s pioneering approach to photomontage. This chance encounter on the Baltic Sea in 1918 transformed his artistic output, moving him beyond traditional painting and into the realm of assembled photographic fragments.
Early Development and Expressionism
Born in Vienna in 1886, Hausmann moved to Berlin in 1901. He received his initial technical foundation from his father, a professional painter and conservator. By 1908, he had enrolled in a private art school in Berlin, a period during which he married the violinist Elfride Schaeffer. His early professional trajectory was deeply tied to the literary and artistic landscape of the era, notably through his staff writing position at the magazine Der Sturm, where he published polemical critiques against the established art world.
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In 1917, the arrival of Richard Huelsenbeck in Berlin catalyzed the formation of the Club Dada. Hausmann served as a central figure in this collective, alongside figures such as George Grosz, John Heartfield, and Hannah Höch. His theoretical contribution, termed Dadasophy, posited that destruction was a necessary precursor to creation. This philosophy manifested in public performances, such as the 1918 exhibition at the Berlin Sezession, where he shouted his manifestos amid the noise of a restless audience.
Photomontage and Phonetic Experiments
Following his 1918 epiphany regarding cut-up press and cinema photographs, Hausmann popularized the photomontage technique, which subsequently influenced Russian Constructivism and Kurt Schwitters. Simultaneously, he developed sound poetry, or phonemes, which utilized chopped and reversed linguistic elements. His performance of the poem fmsbwtazdu in Prague in 1921 notably shaped the development of Schwitters’ later sound work, the Ursonate.
Public Agitation and Professional Output
Hausmann utilized diverse media, including journalism, photography, and illustration, to challenge institutional norms. In June 1919, he and Johannes Baader began editing the periodical Der Dada, which incorporated chaotic typography and satire. By 1920, the group engaged in a six-week tour across Czechoslovakia and Eastern Germany, presenting simultaneous poetry and dances like the Dada-Trot. Later that year, he co-organized the First International Dada Fair in Berlin, a landmark exhibition featuring nearly 200 works.
Fast facts
- Born: 1886, Vienna
- Died: 1971, Limoges
- Movement: Dada
- Primary Occupations: Photographer, writer, sculptor
- Citizenship: Austrian, German
- Key Innovation: Photomontage
- Influenced: Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky
Questions readers ask
What was Hausmann's role in the Dada movement?
He was a central figure in Berlin Dada, known as the Dadasoph, who developed critical theories, sound poetry, and the photomontage technique.
Did Hausmann invent photomontage?
He is widely credited with inventing the technique after witnessing a landlord's modified portrait in 1918, though other contemporaries also made later claims to its invention.
Achievements
- Movement: Dada
