Page 26 - Studio International - October1968

John Heartfield, who died in Berlin on April 26 of this though unsuccessfully.
year at the age of 77, was one of the founders of 'Ultimately Heartfield had to leave Prague and
German Dadaism and a pioneer, if not the originator, arrived in London in December 1938. His powerful
of the use of photo-montage as a graphic medium. His aid through his art in the war against Nazism was
entire career as an artist was devoted to visual com- ignored, if not positively obstructed, by the British
ment on social problems, and much of his work was authorities, who banned all political activity by
anti-Nazi. refugees, and Heartfield found little scope for design-
In 1938 he came to London as a refugee and lived in ing his political satires while in England.
Hampstead for many years. In 1950 he went to live in 'Hearfield was active in the Free German League of
East Germany, but in December 1967 he visited Culture, centred in Hampstead, and a keen member
London again and as a result of his visit an exhibition of the Artists International Association, with whom he
was arranged, which was to have opened this month exhibited. Ultimately, he joined the publishing firm
A Note on at Camden Arts Centre and then tour the U.K. under of Lindsay Drummond, designing book jackets, until
Arts Council direction. Heartfield was preparing this his return to Berlin in 1950. But throughout these
John Heartfield exhibition when he died earlier this year, and his wife twelve years of residence in England he worked in
took over the task. The article on his work which relative obscurity, and there was little recognition of
appears in this issue was planned to coincide with his importance in the history of art.
this exhibition. On August 22, however, the exhibition 'Heartfield's return to Berlin was partly prompted by
was cancelled on this instructions of the leader of the his wish to work on stage designs for the plays of his
Camden Borough Council in consultation with the friend, Bertolt Brecht. Meanwhile his work has won
chairman of the Council's libraries, arts and ameni- increasing acclaim. With the help of his wife, he
ties committee. The Press was informed of this held exhibitions not only in the capitals of Eastern
decision through a Press handout (in which, inci- Europe, but in Italy, Sweden and West Germany.
dentally, Heartfield's name was mis-spelled). The 'When he and his wife returned to London on a visit
reason given was the 'illegal and immoral occupation last October, he must have felt a welcome surprise at
of Czechoslovakia'. The leader of the Council added the intense interest his visit aroused in art circles,
that he was 'confident that the overwhelming majority and the constant invitations he received to address
of the people of Camden would feel it hypocritical in art students.'
so cosmopolitan a borough...to put on an exhibition
from East Germany...'
Earlier the exhibition had run into trouble because of First London showing of Finnish sculptor
the unwillingness of the Foreign Office to permit any Sheldon Williams writes:
mention of the G.D.R. on the cover of the catalogue, Harry Kivijärvi was born in Turku, Finland in
and the East Germans' unwillingness to allow any- 1931. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen he
thing else. Both sides seemed adamant, but in the attended the Finnish Art Academy school. Four
event Mrs Heartfield telephoned the organizers from years later he became a pupil at the Accademia di
Berlin to the effect that East Germany would not Belle Arte in Rome. His exhibition at EWAN
insist on mention of the G.D.R. in any way that might PHILLIPS GALLERY in London marks his first show-
indicate 'official' or 'semi-official' sponsorship. By ing in. Britain, but he is already known inter-
then, however, cancellation of the exhibition had been nationally as an official Finnish participant in the
decided upon. biennales of Sao Paolo, Venice and Paris.
It seems to us that the cancellation of this exhibition To London viewers, Kivijärvi may have a vintage
of work by a man of great talent and humanity who look about him. He belongs to that direction in
was so devoted to England that he adopted an English modern sculpture which includes Arp (of the
name and who abhorred violence, whether it shows its 'concrétions humaines'), Brancusi (at his most
head in Prague, Berlin or Chicago, is a disservice to 'European'), Max -Bill and others who expressed
the arts and one more indication of the dangerous sculptured imagery in a form of sensuous classical
invasion of the arts by political opportunism. This is purity. There is no hint of decoration in this Finnish
all the more unfortunate because Camden has an sculptor's work. Although he was first attracted to
enviable record of enlightened promotion of the arts. bronze, his recognizably personal development has
We decided to publish Aaron Scharf's article on been in stone (generally plain or black diorite), a
Heartfield despite the cancellation of the exhibition material so hard that he rarely completes—even
as a tribute to an impressive but neglected artist, and with mechanical aids—more than four or five
we were glad to see that one of the leading London pieces during a twelvemonth. His return to bronze
Sunday newspapers also gave Heartfield's work came about only after and as a result of his ex-
admirable coverage. perience in working stone. The new bronze works
Richard Carline, who knew the artist well when he are not from the hands of a modeller. Their clean and
was in Hampstead, contributes the following note: flowing forms are directly associated with the
'The impact of Heartfield's great series of photo- diorite carvings.
montage political satires, mainly directed against Kivijärvi has an acute feeling for wind and
Hitler and the growing Nazi movement, was apparent weather. In his fashion he tries to do for the marine
from the fact that the Nazis placed him high on their world of the Baltic what Henry Moore has attempt-
list of enemies. When the storm-troopers sought him ed with the Yorkshire moors. But where Moore
in 1933, he evaded them, being very small, by hiding turned landscapes into reclining women, Kivijarvi
under a barber's sign-board in the area below his projects physical intimacies, heterosexually, into
window. Subsequently he crossed the frontier in a folds of sail and the airpockets of the North.
blizzard to reach temporary safety in Prague.
It was there that he produced some of his most
effective designs, such as the Metamorphosis—the A two-volume selection of Malevich's writings,
caterpillar with head of President Ebert, the chrysalis edited by Troels Andersen has been published by
(Hindenburg), and finally the fully formed death's Borgen, Copenhagen (price £5). It is from this that the
head hawkmoth with the head of Hitler; the family autobiographical essay printed in this issue of Studio
making their supper of 'guns instead of butter' with International is taken. The texts in Troels Andersen's
the Nazi axe being sucked by the baby; and the one of select on cover the period 1915-33. They include all
Goebbels tieing a Karl Marx beard on Hitler's chin major texts printed during his lifetime, and many of
before he addressed the workers on May Day. The them were not previously available in English.
Nazis brought all the pressure possible upon the Troels Andersen is editor of Billedkunst and an
Czech government to stop the display of these works. occasional contributor to Studio International.