Dadaglobe Form Letter to Vagts (Nov 1920)

''Dadaglobe'' was an anthology of the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

movement slated for publication in 1921, but abandoned for financial and other reasons and never published. At 160 pages with over a hundred reproductions of artworks and over a hundred texts by some fifty artists in ten countries, ''Dadaglobe'' was to have documented Dada's apogee as an artistic and literary movement of international breadth. Edited by Dada co-founder

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

(1896-1963) in Paris, ''Dadaglobe'' was not conceived as a summary of the movement since its founding in 1916, but rather meant to be a snapshot of its expanded incarnation at war's end. Not merely a vehicle for existing works, the project functioned as one of Dada's most generative catalysts for the production of new works.

History

The ''Dadaglobe'' solicitation letter, sent from Paris in early November 1920, requested four types of visual submissions—photographic portraits (which could be manipulated, but should "retain clarity"); original drawings; photographs of artworks; and designs for book pages—along with prose, poetry, or other verbal "inventions." Contributors included Jean (Hans) Arp,

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

, George Grosz,

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a 20th century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. ...

Hannah Höch Hannah Höch (; 1 November 1889 – 31 May 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage. Photomontage, or fotomontage, is a type of collage in which the p ...

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, Constructivism (art), constructivism, surrealism ...

, and

Sophie Taeuber Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber-Arp (; 19 January 1889 – 13 January 1943) was a Swiss artist, painter, sculptor, textile designer, furniture and interior designer, architect, and dancer. Born in 1889 in Davos, and raised in Trogen, Switzerla ...

among others (see full list of contributors below). Some of Dada's most iconic artworks were created in direct response to the ''Dadaglobe'' solicitation letter: Ernst's self-portrait montage commonly known as ''Dadamax'' (The Punching Ball or the Immortality of Buonarroti) and his ''Chinese Nightingale'', Taeuber's ''Dada Head'', and Baargeld's ''Typical Vertical Mess as Depiction of the Dada Baargeld'' are just a few examples. These works were conceived by the artists with their presentation in reproduction foremost in mind. ''Dadaglobe'' was to have been a manifesto on the revised status of the artwork in reproduction. The volume was advertised in Duchamp's and Man Ray's journal ''New York Dada'' in 1921: "Order from the publishing house 'La Sirène' 7 rue Pasquier, Paris, DADAGLOBE, the work of dadas from all over the world ��The incalculable number of pages of reproductions and of text is a guarantee of the success of the book." When André Breton, later founder of Surrealism, saw the intended contents of the book, he remarked: "The grand album 'Dadaglobe' ��will soon appear. ��After the publication of this volume it will be impossible to contest Dada's artistic value." In scope, ambition, and even title, Tzara's Paris-based ''Dadaglobe'', was modeled on

Richard Huelsenbeck Carl Wilhelm Richard Hülsenbeck (aka Charles R. Hulbeck) (23 April 189220 April 1974) was a German writer, poet, and psychoanalyst born in Frankenau, Hessen-Nassau who was associated with the formation of the Dada movement. Life and work Huel ...

's Berlin-based, ''Dadaco'', planned the previous year, but also abandoned and never published. ''Dadaglobe'' reached an advanced stage of planning before financial and interpersonal obstacles put a halt to the project in spring 1921.

''Dadaglobe'' Reconstructed

Numerous archival traces provide an indication of the intended contents of ''Dadaglobe''. The French scholar Michel Sanouillet (1924-2015) rediscovered the abandoned project and, in 1966, published a selection of the texts intended for the original anthology. On the occasion of Dada's centennial in 2016, American scholar Adrian Sudhalter published ''Dadaglobe Reconstructed'', a book that includes a 160-page reconstruction of ''Dadaglobe'' within a scholarly context, accompanied by a preface by Sanouillet. The publication accompanies Sudhalter's exhibition of the same name, on view at the Kunsthaus Zürich (February 5-May 1, 2016) and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (June 12-September 18, 2016).Dadaglobe Reconstructed. Museum of Modern Art
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Participants

Participants in ''Dadaglobe'' included: *

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

(1897-1982), France * Jean Arp (1886-1966), Germany, France *

Johannes Baader Johannes Baader (June 21, 1875 – January 14, 1955), originally trained as an architect, was a German writer and artist associated with Dada in Berlin. Life Baader was born in Stuttgart, where his father worked as a metalworker at the royal ...

(1875 –1955), Germany * Johannes Theodor Baargeld (1892–1927), Germany * Egidio Bacchi (1897-1963), Italy *

Erwin Blumenfeld Erwin Blumenfeld (26 January 1897 – 4 July 1969) was an American photographer of German origin. He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working a ...

(1897–1969), Germany, Netherlands, France, USA * Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957), Romania, France * André Breton (1896-1966), France * Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia (1881-1985), France * Margueritte Buffet * Gino Cantarelli (1899 – 1950). Italy *

Serge Charchoune Serge Charchoune or Sergey Sharshun (russian: Сергей Иванович Шаршун) was a Russian painter and the first Russian Dada poet. Born August 4, 1888, in Buguruslan, Russia, Charchoune lived most of his life in France where he di ...

(1889-1975), Russia, France *

Paul Citroen Roelof Paul Citroen (15 December 1896 – 13 March 1983) was a German-born Dutch artist, art educator and co-founder of the New Art Academy in Amsterdam. Among his best-known works are the photo-montage Metropolis and the 1949 Dutch postage sta ...

(1896-1983), Germany, Netherlands *

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

(1889-1963), France *

Jean Crotti Jean Crotti (24 April 1878 – 30 January 1958) was a French painter. Crotti was born in Bulle, Fribourg, Switzerland. He first studied in Munich, Germany at the School of Decorative Arts, then at age 23 moved to Paris to study art at the ...

(1886-1951), France, USA *

Paul Dermée Paul Dermée (1886–1951) was a Belgian writer, poet, literary critique. Born Camille Janssen in Liège, Belgium in 1886, he died in Paris in 1951. He knew the painters Picasso, Juan Gris, Sonia and Robert Delaunay and the poets Valéry Larbaud ...

(1886-1951), Belgium, France *

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (, 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch artist, who practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He was married to artist, pianist and choreographer Nell ...

(1883-1931) Netherlands *

(1887-1968), France * Suzanne Duchamp (1889-1963), France * Jacques Edwards *

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

(1895-1952), France *

(1891-1976), Germany, USA *

Julius Evola Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiant ...

(1898-1974), Italy * Aldo Fiozzi *

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven (née Else Hildegard Plötz; (12 July 1874 – 14 December 1927) was a German-born avant-garde visual artist and poet, who was active in Greenwich Village, New York, from 1913 to 1923, where her radical self ...

(1874-1927), Germany, USA *

Otto Griebel Otto Griebel (31 March 1895 – 7 March 1972) was a German painter. In 1933, he was arrested by the Gestapo and his paintings were branded as degenerate art. His painting "Child at a Table" was one of the artworks found in the 2012 Munich ar ...

(1895-1972), Germany * George Grosz (1893-1959), Germany, France, USA * Job Haubric *

Raoul Hausmann Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry, and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on ...

(1886-1971), Germany *

(1891-1968), Germany, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain *

(1889-1978), Germany *

(1892-1974), Germany *

Marcel Janco Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Const ...

(1895-1984), Romania, Israel * Adon Lacroix (1887–1975), Belgium, USA * Clément Pansaers (1885-1922), Belgium * Benjamin Péret (1899-1959), France *

(1879-1953), France *

(1890-1976), France, USA * Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (1884-1974), France * Jacques Rigaut (1898-1929), France *

(1887-1948), Germany *

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault in ...

(1897-1990), France *

Joseph Stella Joseph Stella (born Giuseppe Michele Stella, June 13, 1877 – November 5, 1946) was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also ...

(1877-1946), Italy, USA * Luise Straus (Armada von Duldgedalzen) (1893-1944), Germany *

Sophie Taeuber-Arp Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber-Arp (; 19 January 1889 – 13 January 1943) was a Swiss artist, painter, sculptor, textile designer, furniture and interior designer, architect, and dancer. Born in 1889 in Davos, and raised in Trogen, Switzerlan ...

(1889-1943), Switzerland, France *

Guillermo de Torre Guillermo de Torre (Madrid, 1900 – Buenos Aires, 14 January 1971) was a Spanish essayist, poet and literary critic, a Dadaist and member of the Generation of '27. He is also notable as the brother-in-law of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borge ...

(1900-1971), Spain, France, Argentina *

(1896-1963), Romania, France * Alfred Vagts (1892-1986), Germany, USA *

Edgar Varèse Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval per ...

(1883–1965), France, USA * Melchoir Vischer (1895-1975), Germany * Fried-Hardy Worm

References

External links

**Th
International Dada Archive
- at the University of Iowa has early Dada periodicals and includes online scans of publications

- includes history, bibliography, documents, and news
''New York dada'' (magazine), Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, April, 1921
Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Pompidou (access online) {{Dada Dada 20th-century French literature 20th-century German literature

History

''Dadaglobe'' Reconstructed

Participants

See also

References

External links