John Heartfield - Art as a Weapon

Front page of the Allgemeine Illustrierte Zeitung (AIZ) with a photomontage by John Heartfield showing Adolf Hitler taking money from an exemplary industrialist. Title: "Der Sinn des Hitlergrusses: Kleiner Mann bittet um grosse Gaben. Motto: Millonen Stehen Hinter Mir!" (The Meaning of the Hitler Salute: Little man asks for big gifts. Motto: Millions Stand Behind Me!) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkGerman artist John Heartfield (1891-1968) is often associated with the Dadaism--but his work goes far beyond the boundaries of a single movement. He was both a pioneer and master of using art as a political weapon--as seen in his anti-Nazi, anti-Fascist photomontages (a form named later--after Heartfield and George Grosz created it). Heartfield used this approach to expose German Nazisim. Through rotogravure--an engraving process whereby pictures, designs, and words are engraved into the printing plate or printing cylinder—Heartfield produced his montages in the form of posters, which were distributed in the streets of Berlin in 1932 and 1933.