Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch was a German artist who was part of the Dada art movement. She was known for her collages and photo montages which had strong political references. Similarly to how i work, Hoch used images and text from the mass media to create new meaning through composition. Her work critiqued the failings of the German Government at the time and a lot of her works show inspiration from Pablo Picasso's collage work. Below is one of Hoch's works' 'Das schöne Mädchen (The Beautiful Girl)' (1920).


This piece of collaged work focuses on gender issues and it is works like this which make Hannah Hoch a pioneering feminist artist. This image is said to be an 'evocative visual reaction to the birth of industrial advertising and ideals of beauty it furthered.'
Objects included are photographs of a wheel, a woman with cat eyes, the hair of another woman, a BMW plate and a female body with the head of a light bulb.
I like how parts of the female body have been juxtaposed with objects which relate to technological development and this may have made a viewer question how these developments may help the rise of the female. It shows optimism and i feel it has, in a way, foreshadowed how technology has helped gain a voice for all of societies minorities.


I intend to use this image as an influence to create some of my own collages which show how current issues may affect female psychology or the male gaze within the advertising industry.