Raoul Hausmann: An Artist’s Art Critic

Raoul Hausmann - The Art Critic (Der Kunstkritiker) - 1919-20 - Lithograph and printed paper on paper - 318 x 254 mm - Tate Gallery, London (click photo for larger image)Raoul Hausmann (1886-1971) was an Austrian artist, who was a founder and central figure of the Dada movement in Berlin. He was known especially for his satirical photomontages and his provocative writings on art that decried the art establishment. He wrote for journals such as Die Aktion and Herwarth Walden’s Der Sturm.  Dada artists and writers created provocative works that questioned capitalism and conformity, which they believed to be the fundamental motivations for the war that had just ended, and which had left chaos and destruction in its wake.

By 1918 Hausmann had already begun to work primarily in photomontage—composite collaged images made by juxtaposing and superimposing fragments of photos and text found in mass-media sources. It is commonly held that Hausmann and fellow artist Hannah Höch discovered photomontage while vacationing on the Baltic Sea, in the summer of 1918. 

In the work featured here, the 'art critic' is identified by a stamp as George Grosz, another member of the Dada group. But the image was probably an anonymous figure cut from a magazine. The fragment of a German banknote behind the critic’s neck suggests that he is controlled by capitalist forces. The words in the background are part of a poem poster made by Hausmann to be pasted on the walls of Berlin.