3. Hannah Höch
Hannah Höch was one of the first originators of the term „photomontage‟
alongside John Heartfield. She was a German dada feminist artist in the early
1900‟s and studied in Berlin‟s college of arts and crafts. In 1915 she met
female artist Raoul Hausmann which inspired her to join the dada movement
in Berlin. Hannah Höch had an extremely unique style to her art work by using
graphics, photography, paintings and collages to build up a „photomontage‟.
She mainly focussed her work on women as she felt they needed to be
expressed in real life rather than just the media. The art Höch produced on
the women represented feminism as it compared them from the media to real
life in a distinctive way.
The Flirt is a piece of art by Hannah Höch which shows body parts of a
woman placed on what appears to be a statue. This piece of art could be a
way of expressing Höch‟s thoughts on how women are treated. For
example, this piece is showing that the woman is made of stone and the facial
features show no emotion which could suggest that in the media, womens‟
feelings are maybe not recognised and they are treated as though they are
made of stone so they are strong and do not have feelings.
The Flirt
4. Hannah Höch
Da-Dandy is one of Höch‟s photomontages produced in the early 1900s. The
word ‘dandy’ is referring to the way the women are dressed in the
montage, as they are very caring about their fashion and what they are
wearing. This piece shows a lot of different snippets of different women who
all look different although the items of clothing make them appear to share the
same fashion sense. Some of the photographs look as though they are in the
shape of a mans side profile which could symbolise the male dandies who like
female dandies care a lot about what they look like and their style.
The photographs of the women are mostly in black and white although
throughout the piece, there are some splashes of yellows, pinks and reds
which could be related to females as they are quite feminine colours.
The montage shows things such as jewellery and heels which could be seen
by some as female “essentials” as according to the media women always look
flawless and classy. The hand next to the heels looks like it could be taking
them off which would symbolise that women do not need to wear heels to
keep up the image of been classy.
Da-Dandy photomontage, 1919
5. Hannah Höch
This is another very powerful photomontage by Hannah Höch. It shows a
woman who looks like she is wearing a mask while doing ballet. The facial
expressions in the eye and mouth of the woman look like she is annoyed or
not happy with what she is doing and it looks like she is been forced to do
something she doesn‟t want to. The eye is looking up which is the expression
we have when we have been told to do something we don‟t want to or told off.
Wearing the mask shows that she has to hide the fact she is not happy
although we can still see her true feelings through it.
There is a mans bicep coming out of the mask which is showing that the
woman is putting on a strong act and that even if she is having a tough time
she is been made to put on this act of been happy.
Höch shows in most of her work some of the struggles that women have by
piecing together different snippets of paintings, graphics and collages. Her
work shows that different images can be created by using all of these art
techniques.
6. Ronny Englemann
Ronny Englemann is a young German experimental photographer who began
his work in 2012. He uses a similar style throughout most of his photographs.
He has the consistent sepia effect on the subjects of the photograph and most
have a black background. Having the same style for most of Englemann‟s
photographs could be a good thing as it makes his work more recognisable.
Most of his photographs include hands which are portrayed in different ways
such as this photograph which looks like is two photographs merged together
to create a new image. The eyes have been positioned in the middle of where
the hands cross over to make it look like it is a face. To create this
image, Ronny could have taken a photograph of someone‟s face and another
of someone‟s hands and used Photoshop to create the illusion of the eyes on
the hands.
7. Ronny Englemann
For this image, Englemann will have used a similar strategy. The image
shows the same consistant style, for example the black background and the
sepia effect on the hands. This image would have been created by taking
many photographs of someone‟s hands in different positions. He would then
use Photoshop to create the illusion of there been hands on each of the
fingers.
Englemann uses the same subject for his photography but changes it
dramatically to create some interesting looking images. He uses the human
hands as the main focus and only that in the image. The effect on the subject
shows clearly the bones and the veins of the hands which gives it more
depth, including the hands on top of the fingers.
8. Ronny Englemann
For this image, Englemann has changed the style slightly although he is still
using the human hands as the subject. To create this image, Englemann
would have taken a photograph of someone walking in what looks to be some
woods, and then use Photoshop to place the photograph on top of the
photograph of the hands to make it look as though the hands are opening up
another world in a sense.
The effect on the hands is also different as this specific image has a
monochrome effect. Englemann seems to make small changes to his work
while keeping some things exactly the same. His range of work is all very
different and all have their own mark but his style of work is very consistent
and recognisable.
