Home> Archive> 2023> Volume 13 Number 4 (Aug. 2023)
IJSSH 2023 Vol.13(4): 241-245
doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2023.V13.1152

The Expression of Feminism in Portrait Works of Hannah Höch by Using Photomontage during Weimar Germany

Yingying Li

Abstract—This paper focuses on analyzing the expression of feminism in Hannah Höch’s portrait works by using photomontage during Weimar Germany. Hannah Höch (1889-1978) is the only female Dadaist of Berlin Dada. Dada movement prevailed in Germany after the First World War and was influenced by the changes in politics, society, and economics. At the same time, photomontage was popular among Dadaists, which was made from cutting up photographs, newspapers, drawings, etc. for political propaganda, social criticism and advocation of Dada movement. Besides, during Weimar Republic (1918-1933), because of the changes in the society, women found new social values and roles, and people’s feminism consciousness was awakened. While most of the Dadaists used Photomontage to advocate their propositions of politics and society, Hannah Höch paid more attention to feminism. This paper starts by introducing the education and working experience of Hannah Höch as well as the influence of Dada movement and Weimar period on her. Then it analyses the development of Dadaism and photomontage as well as their relationships to lay a foundation for deeper discussions of Höch’s way and purport of photomontage creation. Then, this paper focuses on analyzing two pieces of photomontage portrait work of Hannah Höch and contrasts them respectively with two pieces of work of Kurt Schwitters. Finally, it concludes that Hannah Höch’s photomontage portrait works are not only extraordinary in her way of creation but also outstanding for her firm and thorough feminism.

Index Terms—Dadaism, photomontage, feminism, new woman, weimar

Yingying Li is with the Camberwell Collage of Arts, University of the Arts London, 45-65 Peckham Rd, London, UK. E-mail: dasy_dasy@ 163.comk (Y.Y.L.)

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Cite: Yingying Li, "The Expression of Feminism in Portrait Works of Hannah Höch by Using Photomontage during Weimar Germany," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 241-245, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
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