Lot 171A email save

RODCHENKO, Aleksandr Mikhailovich (1891-1956). Dz

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1939. Photocollage on exhibition mount (240 x 300 mm). With "A. M. Rodchenko," studio address and telephone number stamped on verso and notes in red pencil in the artist's hand with the date 1939: "The photo was done at the flat of the writer S. M. Tretyakov. Here I first met and photographed John. The entire evening Heartfield silently showed his works." both an appropriate homage and a document of the historical meeting between two of the unquestioned masters of the photomontage technique. Photomontage is a compositional method that typified the politically progressive avant-garde movements between the wars, and in its later postmodern applications has proven to be the dominant compositional aesthetic. John Heartfield (1891-1968; born Helmut Herzfeld) began his career as part of the Berlin Dada group in 1916 where he was also a member of the German Communist Party. He used his collage work as a political medium, incorporating images from the political journals of the day. He edited Der DADA and organized the First International Dada Fair in Berlin in 1920. In 1933, after the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Heartfield relocated to Czechoslovakia and stirred attention with his devastating satirical collages aimed at exposing the murderous tyranny of Hitler and the Nazis. Needless to say, his work was banned in his native country. For Heartfield the definition of photomontage was wider than for most, insisting that it should also include the single photo with caption, since text and image interacted with each other in a similar way to multiple images. Heartfield's use of captions was, and perhaps still is, unsurpassed. In 1931-1932, Heartfield made a visit to the USSR where he traveled and lectured under the auspices of the journal USSR in Construction. While there he exhibited over 300 of his works in Moscow and it is assumed it was during this visit that the meeting with Rodchenko and Tretyakov took place. In 1938, fearing a German takeover of his host country, he left for England, finally returning to his native country in 1948.

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