Page 33 - Studio International - October1968

Facing page War and corpses—the last hope of the rich (27 April 1932) Below left After ten years: Father and son 1924. Said to be the first of
The medal worn by the hyena is inscribed, 'Pour le Profit'. In 1934, Heartfield's unequivocal use of photomontage for revolutionary
this montage was used as a poster in Spain with the message : 'Oppose agitation. Shown in the window of his brother's firm, Malik Books, with
Bloodthirsty Fascism I', the medal being replaced by a swastika. documents relating to the first world war, it drew many people and
provoked violent argument.
Below right The face of Fascism (July 1928). The original legend included
this statement by Mussolini : 'In the next 15 years I will change the
face of Italy so that no one will be able to recognize it'.

masochism, the lot. You name it; Berlin had it! The novel (much of arts from at least the beginning of the century, and these sources
it based on the author's own experiences there) also recalls the were not preoccupied with style. Utilized with great frequency in
battles between Nazis and Communists in those days when Hitler the sets for early film fantasies, in picture postcards, in advertisements
and his henchmen got much of their support from the lumpenprole- and statistical illustrations, and even—in still photography—in re-
lariat malcontents of the Berlin slums. constructions of newsworthy events where no cameraman had been
Above all other means of visual communication, the uncompromi- present, photomontage and its commonplace origins represented to
sing truth of the photograph and photomontage was used by these artists what the small letter did to their counterparts in typo-
Heartfield to reveal the harsh, raw and evil character of National graphy.2 Photomontage was supremely non-art, and with it reality
Socialism. Every tyranny gets the iconography it deserves, and Heart- could be turned upside-down with 'reality' itself. It was ready-made
field's assaults were made with the most fearsome, symbolically and readily made. In the juxtaposition of images, the creation was
charged images traditional in Western art, fused with those of instantaneous. It might not be Art but it was artful.
modern militarism and industrial capitalism: the voracious animal, Heartfield's use of photomontage was fundamentally different
the top hat; the skeleton and the gas mask; uniforms and medals, from that of others in the Berlin circle. Unlike Hausmann, Hoch
swords and bayonets; the church, axe, snake, knife, and the dollar and Grosz, all of whom used the photographic fragments in as un-
sign. It was the almost emblematic symbolism residing in these disguised a manner as an expressionist painter lays on brushstrokes,
images, their meanings understood by all, which was used to jar the Heartfield took care to integrate the diverse elements of the composi-
emotions. Heartfield rarely employed the formal contrivances of tion, to give to the improbable or unbelievable image the greatest
Expressionism, but a strain of Dada wit is apparent in the prepo- degree of formal logic possible. Those fantasies are real fantasies. He
sterous choice of images. often went to elaborate lengths to pose friends and models with the
One of the most compelling things about the technique of photo- ultimate composition in mind. And where it was necessary, he engaged
montage to Dadaists (as well as to Surrealists) was that something carpenters or other craftsmen to make props in preparation for the
like art, but not art in the conventional sense, could be produced photographer and the final montage. By his own account, Heart-
through a mechanistic agency. The traditional rendering of images, field intentionally avoided taking and processing the photographs he
and the use of stylistic mannerisms, were largely obviated by the use used. Most probably, he felt it necessary to maintain a certain aloof-
of ready-made, uniformly objective photographs. Moreover, these ness from the process for fear that such involvement in technique
were the most universally communicable of all visual media. And might impinge deleteriously on his sensitivities for the imagery it-
happier yet, photomontage was itself already rooted in the popular self. After all, the idea of using images ready-made was of utmost