Humanities
RIWT Task1

Describe Dadaism Dadaism or Dada was developed during World War I. The movement was born, as they say, in Zurich by refugees from mostly Germany and France. Dadaism used visual art, literature such as poetry, theatre, and some graphic design. It was a protest against the war. Because of the horrific events going on in the war, Dadaists used everything from obscenities, scatological humor, visual puns, and any object that would do to thrash nationalism, rationalism, materialism and anything which they felt added to or contributed to the war. Dada used prefabricated materials such as photographs, paintings and mass-produced objects in their art works. They used the idea as much as the materials. An everyday object is turned into an art by object by placing it an artistic context. It disregarded tradition and the use of conscious form in favor of the ridiculous. The movement spread from Zurich to other parts of Europe and eventually New York City. The art form began to get serious consideration in the early 1920s. The Dadaism slowly faded.
Describe Surrealism The dictionary defines Surrealism as “A style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or non-rational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects.”
Surrealism was a movement in the 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, the unexpected and non sequitur. Some of the characteristics are exploration of the dream and unconsciousness, depicting images of perverse sexuality, scatology, decay and violence, to go against socially acceptable behaviors and traditions, and focusing on the irrational to make art strange.
Similarities and Differences
Surrealism grew from Dadaism but in different cultures and times. Dada emerged as a war time movement, while surrealism was born in a time of peace. Dadaism did not have a leader but more or less spokesmen. Surrealism, because of being located in Paris, had a leader in Andre Breton. Dadaism spoke out and was political and aggressive in nature. Surrealism was seen as healing and reconstructive turning from the public voice to a private one exploring the unconscious. Surrealists searched for that encounter when the ordinary became extraordinary instead of being intentionally disruptive and antagonistic like Dadaism. Both Dada and Surrealists were poets, used visual arts and worked with chance. In Surrealism they used old fashioned techniques while painting dreams as though they were real. The bottom line is that in Dadaism there is no meaning of life, no purpose and no reason. In Surrealism life has a meaning and one will find it by unlocking they unconscious mind.
Purpose of Surrealism The main purpose of deviating from Dadaism was to get people to look at the world in a different way. It was meant to shock and reveals unconscious truths or dreams. If traditional paintings reflected the world as it was seen, Surrealist paintings did the opposite. They wanted to free association and interpretation of dreams to open up the mind and attempt to capture it in a more permanent form. Breton wrote in the first Surrealist Manifesto: "Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."
Surrealism wanted for society to free their minds. Hannah Höch created “Cut with a Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany (1919)”. As part of Club Dada, Höch critiqued culture by literally slicing it apart and reassembling it into disjointed, emotional depictions of modern life. It seemingly places humans against machine and refers to the decadence of pre-war German culture as it was seen.
Cut with a Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany

The Surrealist style of tapping into the unconsciousness and dreams to show the world in another way is shown in the example below of Salvador Dali’s “The Architectural Angelus of Millet”.

The Cut with a Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany is a photo montage of pieces cut from photographs, magazines, and newspapers. It depicts the changing times of that period. It shows the political chaos of the leaders to the newly developed machine technology. In true Dada style the artist used everyday things as it was seen at that time. The fragmentation is showing defining society during and after the war. Dali transformed the couple in “L’angelus” from Jean-François Millet into two big white stones. Dali and his father are seen underneath the male stone, and a female stone is using a crutch. He took the couple as seen in the world and then, as Surrealist do, implied it to dreams and the unconscious mind giving him the bizarre and strange landscape.
Influence
Surrealism was an influence as a style of art in the fact it can be found in a wide variety of modern and contemporary forms. Examples are abstract Expressionism, Pop-Art and Conceptualism, Assemblage, Installation and Performance. Surrealism is still used today. Many artists around the world are influenced by Surrealism styles, ideas & techniques. Surrealism taught the world to see art not merely visually and literally and to appreciate it in a subconscious level. Surrealism provides more freedom to show feelings and thoughts through their art work. Surreal art can be dreamy or gritty; or it can be optimistic or depressing.
Works Cited artinthepicture.com. (2013, 01 25). An Introduction to art History. Retrieved from Art in the Picture: http://www.artinthepicture.com/styles/Dadaism/
Ask Art. (2000, 01 01). Dadaism. Retrieved from askart.com: http://www.askart.com/AskART/interest/Modernism_3.aspx?id=76
Smith, C. (2004, 12 10). A Century Later, Dada Gets Its Due. Retrieved from Duke Today: http://today.duke.edu/2004/12/dada_1204.html
WiseGeek. (2013, 01 28). What is Surrealism? Retrieved from WiseGeek: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-surrealism.htm