Photomontage has more to do with film than with any other art form - they have in common the technique of montage. (Sergei Tretyakov)
By considering that photomontage and film use the technique of cutting and gluing as dominant artistic device, and that montage, a technique unifying art and technology for the first time, emerged as a dominant artistic feature of the avant-garde, this thesis will explore the ideological and perceptual implications of its advent in avant-garde art and film. The technological advances of the beginning of the twentieth century, and particularly the advent of photography, allowed avant-garde artists to break free from traditional concepts of artistic production – they dispensed with the old criteria of uniqueness, originality, handicraft and personal style. At a time when many avant-garde artists abruptly ceased to paint, photomontage emerged as the privileged locus for a caesura with traditional art forms. Photomontage envisioned film aesthetics insofar as it combines and juxtaposes images of various perspectival planes and angles (Raoul Hausmann described his early photomontages as “motionless moving pictures”). A corresponding observation can be made on the use of montage in cinema, a technique which crucially underpins the illusion of movement created through the succession of photographic stills. The present thesis will investigate photomontage and film in order to examine the effect technological reproduction played in revolutionising artistic production, perception and ideology – where the technique and philosophy of montage was key.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Montage as Principle
The Origins of Photomontage
Griffith and Proto-Montage
Towards a Definition of Collage/Montage/Photomontage/Assemblage
Montage as Ideology
CHAPTER ONE: Berlin Dada and Early Photomontage
Photomontage as New “Principle” of Structure
The Invention of Photomontage: Conflicting Histories
Raoul Hausmann – Strategies of Subversion
Hausmann and Photography
Hausmann, Schwitters, De Stijl, Rodchenko and Moholy-Nagy
Gaze and Sound: Optophonetics
The Total Woman: Hannah Höch on Art, Individuality and Gender Issues
Feminity and Masculinity in the Post-War Era
Cutting-Up the “New Woman”
Grosz-Heartfield
Photography as Dynamic Montage
Heartfield’s Propaganda Photomontages
CHAPTER TWO: Towards Constructivism – From Photomontage to the Functionalist Dream
Constructivist Ideology and its Historical Interpretations
The Ideology of Creativity
The Constructivist Space
New Spatial Procedures: The Frontalisation of Space in Photomontage
Montage as Mosaic
Geometric Cut and Montage
Montage as Plural Locus
Constructivist Page Design and Photomontage: A European Perspective
CHAPTER THREE: Machining the Unconscious – Technology in the Service of a New Art
Moholy-Nagy’s Bauhaus Photograms and Photoplastics
Surrealism: Semantic and Visual Construction/Deconstruction
Max Ernst – From Dadamax to Fatagaga
The Surrealist (Self-)Portrait
CHAPTER FOUR: Avant-Garde Film and Montage
Photography versus Film
Montage: A Simple Cut?
The Aesthetic Implications of Using Collage in Film
Cinema, Music and Painting
Painting According to the Language of Music
Principles of Counterpoint: Orchestration of Movement and Orchestration of Time
Coloured Rhythm
Synchronising Music and Image: Acoustical Laws and Optical Expression
German “Absolute Film” Encounters Montage
CHAPTER FIVE: Soviet Montage, Rhythm and the City
Eisenstein, Vertov and Cultural Context
The Visual Rhythm of the City
The City Symphony
Avant-Garde Film, Narrative and Gender
The Concealed Camera of the City Symphony
CONCLUSION
The Ethics of Montage
Bloch, Brecht, Benjamin, Lukacs, Gestalt Theory and Montage
Tretyakov, Arvatov and Brecht
The Category of Montage
From Instrument of Enlightenment to Totalitarian Propaganda
Objectives and Research Themes
This thesis explores the ideological and perceptual implications of montage as a dominant artistic device in early 20th-century avant-garde photography and film. It investigates how this technique, which unifies art and technology, revolutionised artistic production and perception between 1919 and 1939, functioning as a "symbolic form" that reflected an increasingly urbanised and industrialised society.
- The comparative analysis of photographic and cinematic montage.
- The role of the Berlin Dadaists in inventing and politicising photomontage.
- The transition from Dadaist photomontage to the functionalist and constructivist aesthetic.
- The influence of montage on avant-garde film and the concept of "rhythm" in city symphonies.
- The ideological debates surrounding montage within the German and Soviet intelligentsia.
Excerpt from the Book
The Origins of Photomontage
The art of photomontage could be said to have started just after the First World War with the Berlin Dadaists, but the manipulation of photographs already had a history going back to the invention of photography in the mid-19th century. Since its inception the photographic medium has always encouraged experimentation: firstly because of its reproducible character, and secondly because it is hyper realistic and mimetic – a trait which artists have distorted in order to conjure up new realities. Direct-contact printing of objects placed on photographic plates, double exposures, and composite pictures made by darkroom masking were all popular during the Victorian era.
Besides this practical use of combination photography – double exposures, double printing and composite photographs – Victorians discovered the amusement to be had from postcards of the wrong head stuck on a different body, or the creation of strange or impossible creatures. The Englishman Francis Galton used photography to construct physiognomic types. Taking the technique further, Galton’s Inquiries into Human Faculty, first published in 1883, included composite photographs made by precisely aligned multiple exposures of individuals such as criminals or consumptives. Highly influential, Galton’s work touched many responsive chords: it fed directly into the literary and painterly tradition of the picturesque type – a subject stripped of limiting details to reveal its universal characteristics of class or profession – and exploited racial and cultural stereotypes. Numerous composite photographic portraits appeared in the 1890s as this became a form of entertainment with newspapers. Trick photography thus became extremely popular – comic postcards, photograph albums, screens, military mementoes all made use of the techniques of cutting out and reassembling photographic images.
Summary of Chapters
INTRODUCTION: Establishes montage as a key structuring principle of early 20th-century art, framing the scope of the thesis within the comparison of photographic and cinematic media between 1919 and 1939.
CHAPTER ONE: Berlin Dada and Early Photomontage: Examines the origins of Berlin Dada photomontage, its political and aesthetic strategies, and its role as a rupture with traditional artistic production.
CHAPTER TWO: Towards Constructivism – From Photomontage to the Functionalist Dream: Discusses the evolution from Dadaist photomontage toward the constructivist aim of creating utilitarian products and shaping a new societal way of life.
CHAPTER THREE: Machining the Unconscious – Technology in the Service of a New Art: Analyzes the incorporation of machine aesthetics and photographic technology into art, including Bauhaus photograms and Surrealist approaches.
CHAPTER FOUR: Avant-Garde Film and Montage: Investigates the transition from photographic to cinematic montage, focusing on the use of rhythmic and musical principles to define a new filmic language.
CHAPTER FIVE: Soviet Montage, Rhythm and the City: Explores how Soviet filmmakers utilised montage to construct rhythmic "city symphonies," reflecting modernity and attempting to create a new consciousness.
CONCLUSION: Synthesises the ethical and ideological debates regarding montage among intellectuals like Benjamin, Brecht, and Lukacs, reflecting on its dual legacy as an instrument of liberation and a tool for propaganda.
Keywords
Montage, Photomontage, Avant-Garde, Film, Dadaism, Constructivism, Surrealism, Technology, Modernity, Sergei Eisenstein, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, City Symphony, Political Propaganda.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this thesis?
The thesis examines the role and philosophy of "montage" as a defining artistic practice in 20th-century avant-garde photography and film between the two World Wars.
What are the primary themes discussed?
Key themes include the interpenetration of art and technology, the invention of photomontage by the Berlin Dadaists, the evolution toward Constructivism, the use of rhythm in avant-garde film, and the ideological debates among European intellectuals.
What is the primary research objective?
To analyze montage not merely as an artistic technique, but as a "structuring principle" and symbolic form that reflects the tumultuous changes of a newly industrialised and urbanised culture.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The research utilises an interdisciplinary approach, combining historical, technical, aesthetic, and sociological analysis to evaluate the montage practices across photography, film, and literature.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It traverses the origins of photomontage in the Dada movement, the shift towards Soviet Constructivist industrial design, the development of abstract and rhythmic experimental film, and the political theoretical debates in 1930s Germany.
What specific terminology characterises the research?
Key terms include "montage", "photomontage", "Gebrauchsgraphik", "Gestaltung", "optophonetics", and "Kino-eye".
How does the author interpret the work of Hannah Höch?
The author highlights Höch's role as a "complete artist" who used photomontage to question gender roles and patriarchal structures, while maintaining a consistent engagement with her medium throughout her career.
What is the significance of the "city symphony" genre in this study?
The author argues that these films used the city as a rhythmic, machine-like entity to experiment with visual montage, often mirroring the ideological push for total vision and new modes of modern perception.
How does the work address the political usage of montage?
The thesis documents the transition of montage from an subversive, "anti-art" Dadaist tactic to a powerful political instrument used by both the Soviet state and, later, by commercial and totalitarian interests.
- Quote paper
- Jennifer Valcke (Author), 2008, Static Films and Moving Pictures, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/181024
