Week 4

John Heartfield

Berlin artist John Heartfield, also known as Helmut Herzfelde is best known for his photomontages as well as being a designer, painter and journalist.

John has influenced many other Dada artists to create their own series of photomontages around the world.

As an anti-Nazi German he created photomontages to make politicalstatements and to convey the message of the corrupted Nazis and government in

germany during the World War II.

His goal was to undermine the propaganda that was growing in Germany and the rising of

communist nationalism. This was shown through his works and used in a Satire form through the images of Adolf Hitler and Swastika.

One of his well known pieces, "Hurrah, Die Butter ist Alle", was made in 1935 and translates to hurray, the butter is gone. It consists of a family dining together and the attempt to eat with difficulty pieces of metal. In the background there is a large portrait of Adolf Hitler and Swastika wallpaper. During the period, propaganda was very influ

ential to the society, so basing his on those similar posters, John Heartfield created irony and strong imagery through his works to convey the message to the public.