Photographer unknown. Opening of the "Erste Internationale Dada-Messe" (First International Dada Fair) held at the Otto Burchard Gallery, Berlin. 1920. Vintage gelatin silver print. 12 x 16,5 cm. Photothek agency stamp and typed French press text label: Exposition d'art des "Dadaistes" à Berlin, vue generale de l'exposition on the verso. |
Losnummer: 4117
Only a few photographic documents exist today of the International Dada Fair, which opened in Berlin in June 1920. Nonetheless, they succeeded to etch their way into the historic cultural memory. The spectacular show took place at the Kunsthandlung Dr. Otto Burchard, Lützowufer 13. The photo offered here shows the following visitors: from left to right Raoul Hausmann, Hanna Höch, Dr. Burchard, Johannes Baader, Wieland Herzfelde and his wife, Dr. Oz, George Grosz, John Heartfield. On the far left the now missing painting "Kriegskrüppel" by Otto Dix is seen (see also lot 4264). A figure in military uniform with a pig mask dangles from the ceiling, which involved Otto Burchard in a lawsuit. A total of circa 200 exhibits hung on the walls, including printed Dada slogans such as "Nieder die Kunst!" (Down with art!) and "Dada ist die willentliche Zersetzung der bürgerlichen Begriffswelt" (Dada is the willful destruction of the bourgeois conceptual world). – Faded, some buckling from glue on verso, some mirroring in edges/corners, otherwise in good condition.
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