The Barbican Art Gallery until October 18th Entrance £4.50 Reduced admission Monday-Friday from 5pm £2.50 John Heartfield's work has shocked and fascinated over the years. This exhibition of his work provides an opportunity to re-examine the man and his art. CAROLINE CARNEY takes a look at the life that produced such powerful images. JOHN HEARTFIELD was born Helmut Herzfeld in Berlin in 1891.
It is said by friends of the artist that he invented the Anglo-persona John Heartfield during the first world war as a protest against anglo-phobia' which was expressed in greetings such as 'God punish England' which replaced 'good day' in everyday usage.
In 1913 he enrolled in the school of arts and crafts in Charlottenburg. His original ambition was to become a Panter pur tal changea in 1915 when his brother Wieland Herzfeld(e) introduced him to George Grosz (born Georg Groß).
Both of the brothers were entranced by the cynicism of Grosz's art and attitudes, and stunned by Grosz's artistic achievements which were a marked contrast to their own expressionism.
Heartfield, Herzfelde and Grosz became enthusiastic Dadaists. The Berlin wing was started in 1918 with the opening of Club Dada which had its high point in the Dada fair of 1920.
The Berlin Dadaists were anti-German politics and culture which they felt had been manipulated and propagandised to the extent that it had contributed to the onslaught of the first world war.
Inspired by the Russian revolution of 1917, Heartfield and friends joined the Communist Party and a slogan poster for the 1920 Dada fair read Dada stands on the side Art of the matter - On the Founding of the State Church (left) and The Seed of Death by John Heartfield of the revolutionary proletariat.
In 1930 Heartfield summed up the approach he evolved in la Tapes entitled 'Zygosis -John Heartfield and the political image' I think Heartfield's statement on photography and new means of propaganda is still relevant today even in the age of television because a single static image is always more powerful than one that the viewer knows will soon moving to another.
The continuous use of Heartfield's work and of techniques of photomontage by other artists today to express political dissent is surely proof enough • The Cutting Edge provides a complement to the Heartfield exhibition and contains work by Fanny Adams, Spitting Image, Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Steve Dixon, acky Flemming, Mona latoum, Peter Kennard Karen Knorr, Ingrid Pollard, Chris Riddell, Ralph Steadman, Trog, and Bill Woodrow.
Watch out for Trog's Bomber Harris and Le Pen cartoons and Ingrid Pollard's 'A trip to Hastings'.
There is also a series of short animation films which start showing at 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 4.45 and include end in the Clowns' by Steve Bell, 'Revolution' by Bob Godfrey, 'Daddy's little bit of Dresden china by Karen Watson and 'Body Beautiful by Joanna Quinn.
At 4pm daily is The Decision' by Vera Neubauer which is 33 minutes long - so you could spend almost a day at these exhibitions and you definitely get your money's worth.
The exhibition will be showing in Scotland and Ireland after Oçtober 18th.
12 Sept, 1992