Scope and Contents

This exhibition catalogue was adapted from the German edition published on the occasion of Heartfeld's exhibition at the Akadamie der Kunste zu Berlin in 1991. John Heartfield, born Helmut Herzfeld, is known primarily as an inventor of photomontage. He was a master of bitter, satiric art using images and texts from newspapers, magazines, and advertisements juxtaposing incongruous details and creating strong images. Heartfield's aim was to mobilize social energy and expose the evils and corruptions of Nazi Germany. Fleeing Germany when Hitler came to power, Heartfield worked in England creating graphic design illustrations for the publishing industry. Several designs for book covers and dust jackets by a number of writers are reproduced in the book. Heartfeld was an active member of the Dada group in Germany in the 1920's. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents

Ellen Lupton reviewed The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946. Steven Heller contributed an interview with Rick Poynor, design writer and editor of Eye Magazine. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents This book reprints the poem Mayakovsky's "Pro Eto," written between December 1922 and February 1923, along with English and German translations, documentation, color reproductions of the original photomontages, and critical text. Alexander Lavrentiev writes that "it is a work in which Mayakovsky uses the novel medium of freely associative verse to grapple - sometimes realistically, sometimes availing himself of poetic licence - with love and philistinism, revolution and drinking tea." When Mayakovsky travelled to Berlin for an exhibition of works by graphic artists from Russia, he noticed publications that successfully used photographs and photomontages instead of drawings. He requested Rodchenko, with whom he had previously collaborated in advertising work, to produce photomontages for the book. Pro Eto was published in 1923. The book is considered one of the milestones in innovative literary content and graphic presentation first "because it represents a new kind of love poetry....

Scope and Contents

The Sackners contributed three works in this exhibition to the Lowe Art Museum by Paul Berger, Gordon Matta-Clark and Luigi Veronesi. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.