Raoul Hausmann – The
Art Critic
By distorting the
appearance of the critic, Hausmann is showing that the critic’s
opinions are also distorted and irrelevant. The eyes of the art
critic, drawn on paper, cannot properly see art as they should. The
critic only sees what he thinks the woman to the right, a member of
high society, wants him to see. Therefore, whatever comes out of his
mouth is unimportant and untrue to Hausmann
The letters in the
background, like the words of the critic, are loud and
incomprehensible. Hausmann chose to make the pencil so large because
it shows how much power the critic has. The pencil is the art
critic’s weapon. He can write whatever he chooses. Interpreting art
is subjective and Hausmann believed that no man should be qualified
to determine what art is good or bad
the critic has a
triangular piece of money seemingly sticking out of his back. This is
how Hausmann portrays the man as a slave to the rich and their money.
He always has money in the back of his mind.
The entirety of The
Art Critic makes a mockery of what critics would traditionally
claim to be fine art. The piece is far from the usual German form of
Expressionism. It contains cut outs and random words. Some parts are
hand drawn. The placement of objects seems arbitrary.
Hausmann chooses to
ignore traditional aesthetically pleasing aspects of art. Because it
is so different, Hausmann is able to make his point that art does not
have to be created to please any one person or group.
The photo-collage,
being flimsy and trashy and makeweight in appearance, is a perfect
form to choose for an art critic, equipped as he so often is with
glittery bits and pieces of superficial learning garnered from here
and there, which are assembled, at critical junctures (press time)
into semi-coherent arguments, and often begin with a hugely
self-conscious and self-referential roar,
Fragmentary scraps of
typography of various sizes – vertical, horizontal, on the tilt –
snarl and mew at us.
He has a large and
ungainly paper mouth imposed upon his mouth – which means that we
know that what he is about to say (and he will be saying it far too
loudly because this mouth will not be allowing him to whisper his
opinions) is not entirely of his own devising.
The triangular fragment
of a green, 50-mark German bank note – the Berlin bear rears
rampant on its feet – seems to be projecting from his upper back,
stabbing into him. It also looks a little like the key that will wind
him up and enable him to walk in one direction or another. The handy
key of financial influence perhaps.
The words in the
background are part of a poem poster made by Hausmann to be pasted on
the walls of Berlin.
(these are phonetic
poems)
Linder – Untitled
found in such
mainstream women’s magazines as Woman’s Own with British
pornography, it was printed in black and white in The Secret
Public, a fanzine
The montage shows the
torso of a naked woman, partially bound with string, emerging from a
saucepan that hovers on a gleaming kitchen surface. The woman’s
head has been replaced with a blender, on which Linder fixed an
inverted pair of eyes and a smiling mouth. This female subject floats
on one side of the kitchen; on the other, as a comic counterpoise, a
glass jar of German würst sits on a work surface in the image
foreground. The blender tilts slightly so that the woman’s eyes
appear to be directed at the phallic jar as she smiles at the würst.
pornographic appetite
is revealed as commodification, the desire for appliances and
impossibly photogenic food shown to be so many kinds of eroticism.
Linder’s collages are not mere punk provocation or cheap surreal
absurdity. She is far too precise and devastating for that. She
vivisects collective desires, disturbing the smooth functioning of
our fantasies about sex, gender, and the good life
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