Artist from Expressionism & Dadaism

"Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk," 1932

John Heartfield, worked in Germany and Czechoslovakia between the two world wars, his photographs reflected the chaos Germany experienced in 1920s and 30s depicting the political catastrophe of the times.  The art piece was from Dadaism as it used photomontage as different pictures were combined.  He was a pioneer of photomontage which allowed him to create politically contentious images.

The picture is of Adolf Hitler it appears as if he’s making a speech possibly its election time and he’s trying to persuade the masses which all politicians do. The picture looks faded indicating darkness which surrounds him. It has poor lighting and shades of green in the background, the green may be indicative of wealth. Although the picture depicted a chest x-ray of Hitler the Nazi sign was still prominent over his heart.  Hitler’s mouth was wide open as if he was swallowing gold; this placed emphasis on the Nazi’s continually getting rich. The picture captured meaninglessness and absurdity of politics key themes of Nihilism. Nihilism in this piece rejects the political structures and the Nazi government, there was no belief in the Nazi. Politicians make empty promises and often times as no regard for the working class people who builds the society. The x-ray I believe was used to show society that you could see right through the Nazi’s they were all about making money, Hitler’s main aim was acquiring financial power.

"Trench Warfare,", 1932

Otto Dix was a German artist born 1891, when World War I broke out he enlisted in the German army and was heavily affected by the traumatic experiences of the battlefield. He constantly had nightmares and flash backs of war. His paintings captured pro war propaganda, so the Nazi’s had him removed from an art teacher position. He painted about the cruelties he saw until he died. This art piece was in the form of dadaism

The picture shows a lot of dead bodies bundled senselessly on the ground, some so badly hurt to the point they are unrecognizable. Some bodies had multiple bullet holds, protruding legs indicating the rest of the body might be buried beneath the ruble or other bodies. A dead body hanging over the trench means death is lurking over all who went to the trench for battle. A soldier can be seen wearing a gas mask who is probably looking at all those dead around him thinking his time is nigh. The colors and the gloominess of the place has death written all over it.  The only light appearing is far away from the battlefield in the sky. All that appears to be in the trench was suffering and death. Even buildings near the trench have been destroyed indicating little or no lives remaining. The Trench Warfare was the after image of World War I and the images embedded in Otto Dix head.  War should never be as it claims lives senselessly and can never be the means to achieve progress. As it relates to the Nihilist the morality one has in serving his country is pointless.

"The Scream,", 1893

Edvard Munch was from the expressionism era, he was a Norwegian painter. He was famed for free flowing, psychological themed style. He displayed strong mental anguish in many of his pieces; he struggled with insanity during his lifetime. He was related to other artist but was extremely influenced by artists like Claude Monet, his pieces were known for symbolism as his paintings made you focus on the internal view of objects. 

The sky was orange which indicating a possible sunset and the blue black and grey indicating fear. The person in front appeared to be walking on a board walk or across a bridge. He seems to be afraid possibly of the persons in the shadows behind him. It’s hard to say if they are walking toward him or away from him. His hand clutching his head as if to say I can’t deal with this anymore, the swirling colors also depicts some kind of physical struggle. The facial expression eyes and mouth wide open indicates this character has some form crisis. The painting was used to depict the characters inner feelings and emotions of isolation and how traumatizing fear can be. The theme here is meaninglessness is motivated by fear, as Nihilism refers to sufferings and feelings as senseless and empty.