DADA AFRIKA 89 DADA MAGIC The collages and assemblages of Hannah Höch and Raoul Hausmann, mostly produced in the 1920s, are another one of the exhibition’s strong points (fi g. 14). In Berlin, unlike in Zurich, the Dada movement was fueled by a culture of revolt that emanated from street fi ghting and the rampant nationalism and militarism of the post-war period. Here, the creative zeal of Dadaism in Zurich took the form of political critique and social discourse. In this context, Höch’s Dadaist creations illustrate the magical effects obtained through the juxtaposition of familiar and foreign images. For her series of collages Aus einem ethnographischen Museum (From an Ethnographic Museum), the Berlin artist cut up newspapers and fashion magazines, as well as Alfred Flechtheim’s avant-garde journal Der Querschnitt. This illustrated modern paintings and scenes of daily life alongside photographs of non-European objects, the latter including pieces acquired by the founder of the Rietberg Museum, collector Eduard von der Heydt. Höch assembled these elements to create a new kind of aesthetic. This exhibition presents her disturbing collages side by side with the original works from Africa, Asia, and Oceania for the fi rst time (fi gs. 15 and 16). Höch’s photomontages have been interpreted as a critique of ideas on modern femininity, on the familiar and the foreign, as well as on identity and the concept of “otherness.” The Denkmal I collage from the series Aus einem ethnographischen Museum, which is also illustrated on the catalog cover and on the exhibition poster, is a good example (fi gs. 17 and 18). The central element of this composite is a photo of a mask by the Master of Bouafl é, which was illustrated in Der Querschnitt in 1924. This object was the property of Ameri- FIG. 15 (above): Hannah Höch, untitled, from the series Aus einem ethnographischen Museum, 1930. Collage. © Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 2016, ProLitteris, Zurich. FIG. 16 (left): Torso of the goddess Uma. Khmer empire, Cambodia. Late 9th–10th century. Sandstone. Museum Rietberg, Zurich, inv. RHI 5, donated by Eduard von der Heydt, ex C. T. Loo, Paris. © Museum Rietberg, Zurich. Photo: Rainer Wolfsberger.
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