Gaga for Dada

The year 1916 hardly sounds like a time of radical modernism, but as the globe emerged from the horrors of the First World War, a group of artists were expressing their shock and rage with works that turned the very notion of art on its head. From their choice of material (found objects, trash, ephemera) to their hostile attitude (defacing art masterpieces, showcasing the mundane as profound), the Dadaists brought messy, contemporary life crashing into the halls of Art.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is currently hosting the largest exhibition ever of works from the Dada movement through May 14 (the exhibit opens at New York's Museum of Modern Art on June 8). The show focuses on the major cities that produced Dada and highlights the new techniques that were developed by the movement. Many of these were precursors to later movements such as surrealism, performance art, and pop art. Found objects were titled, signed, and exhibited in galleries as "ready made" art like Marcel Duchamp's (1887-1968) "L.H.O.O.Q." alteration of a 'Mona Lisa' print. New techniques in photography were explored like Man Ray's (1890-1976) 3-D object photo exposures called "rayographs."

Dada also had a major impact on graphic design--using printed ephemera (newspapers, tickets, candy wrappers, advertisements) as material for photomontages and collages; experimenting with chaotic typography; and creating bold images through abstraction and chance. Dada even marketed itself through the guerilla tactics of street protests, media manipulation, and sloganeering. "The normal state of man is Dada" and "The true Dadas are against Dada" (from 1919 posters) are the branding ancestors of "I want my MTV" and "America spells cheese K-R-A-F-T."

Some later artists who adapted the techniques of Dada acquired the label "Neo-Dada." Jasper Johns (1930- ), Jim Dine (1935- ), and Robert Rauschenburg (1925- ) used assemblage and ready mades to make social and aesthetic critiques through the arrangement of banal objects. Now with the continuing invasion of media into all aspects of our lives--where advertising is 'viral' and 'reality' is scripted--the lines between art and propaganda are even more indistinguishable. As Tristan Tzara (1896-1963) said in 1920, "No one can escape from Dada."

Signs of (Lost) Times

A small photo essay on the typographic treasures of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Coming Attractions

In honor of the annual tribute to the film industry known as the Oscars, I thought it only appropriate to pay tribute to some of the great artists behind the movie poster. Now I'm not talking about the poster for the latest blockbuster with a photo of your favorite star's giant face half in shadow, superimposed over an exploding building. I'm here to pay tribute to the posters that can stand up as art, and have a life long after the movie has faded.

Certainly one of the great pioneers in the modern film era is Saul Bass (1920-1996). A graphic designer who created iconic logos for corporations like United Airlines and AT&T, Bass so revolutionized the movie graphic that he made the movie titles an integral part of the film. No longer did they just list the credits but they set the mood and created an identity for the film from the first frames. Some of his memorable movie posters and titles were for Otto Preminger's 'The Man with the Golden Arm' (1955) and Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' (1958). His New York Times obituary said he was "the minimalist auteur who put a jagged arm in motion in 1955 and created an entire film genre…and elevated it into an art."

Sometimes the star is the most important focus of the poster but long before the days of Photoshop, it was up to illustrators to create their striking portraits. One of the most recognized and prolific was Bob Peak (1927-1992). He created lively illustrated portraits for such classics as 'The Birdman of Alcatraz' (1962), 'My Fair Lady' (1964), and 'Apocalypse Now' (1979) among others. His painterly work added power and personality to the portraits. His work has also appeared on US postage stamps for the 1984 Olympics and many covers for Newsweek and TV Guide.

Another popular movie poster artist known for his celebrity portraits was Richard Amsel (1948-1985). From his boldly graphic image of Barbra Streisand in 'Hello, Dolly!' (1969) to his homage to J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1951) in his poster for 'The Sting' (1973), his work took nostalgia and made it fresh and modern. His portraits were also featured on many TV Guide covers and his depiction of Bette Midler as the Divine Miss M help define her stage persona.

For more on the art of the movie poster, check out this interesting article interviewing veteran illustrators, including Drew Struzan (Star Wars) and John Berkey (King Kong), about the declining state of the Hollywood movie poster. Also, Posterwire.com is a tremendous resource for information on the art of movie posters from vintage to contemporary.