John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld)
- Introduction
- John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield also created book jackets for book authors, such as Upton Sinclair, as well as stage sets for contemporary playwrights, such as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator.
- Wikidata
- Q168671
- Introduction
- Best known for his politically-themed photomontage work of the 1930s lampooning the machinery of war and the rise of fascism. He studied at Munich's Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule with the Jugendstil poster artists Weisberger and Hohlwein, and later with Ernst Neumann, an advertising designer. The outbreak of World War I ended his studies in 1914. His earliest photo-based works involved juxtapositions of combat photographs with government war propaganda. He shared a studio with his friend, the painter George Grosz, and together they anglicized their names as a protest against the war. In 1918 he joined both the Berlin Dada movement and Germany's Communist Party. He designed book jackets for leftist literature at his brother's publishing house Malik Verlag, and from the mid-1920s his photomontages began to appear in left-wing periodicals. He is most noted for the satirical montages targeting Adolf Hitler and his followers that he created in the 1930s for the magazine AIZ (Die Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung).
- Nationality
- German
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Journalist, Typographer, Painter, Photographer, Photomontagist
- Names
- John Heartfield, Helmut Herzfeld, Helmuth Herzfelde, Helmut Herzfelde, Herzfelde Heartfield, Helmuth Heartfield, Dzhon Khartfilʹd, G'on Harṭfild, ג׳ון הארטפילד, John (born Helmut Herzfelde) Heartfield, John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfelde)
- Ulan
- 500018521
Exhibitions
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Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented
Through Apr 10
MoMA
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Dadaglobe Reconstructed
Jun 12–Sep 18, 2016
MoMA
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The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook
Apr 16, 2012–Apr 21, 2013
MoMA
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Dada
Jun 18–Sep 11, 2006
MoMA
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Architecture and Design: Inaugural Installation
Nov 20, 2004–Nov 7, 2005
MoMA
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) has
12 exhibitionsonline.
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "Der Sumpf" by Upton Sinclair 1922
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) 150 Million by Wladimir Majakowsky 1924
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "Samuel, der Suchende" by Upton Sinclair 1924
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "Im Lande der Rekordzahlen" by J. Dorfmann c. 1927
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Maquette for covers of the journal Die Rote Fahne (The red flag), vol. 11, no. 201, and the brochure Hurra! Der Panzerkreuzer A ist da! (Hooray! The battle cruiser A has arrived!) 1928
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) The Hand Has Five Fingers (5 Finger hat die Hand) (Poster for the German Communist Party) 1928
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) The Hand Has Five Fingers (5 Finger hat die Hand) 1928
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "Drei Soldaten" by John Dos Passos 1929
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "Wie ein Mensch geboren ward" by Maxim Gorki 1930
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Varvara Stepanova, John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Prospectus for Za rubezhom (Abroad) 1930
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Varvara Stepanova, John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Handbill for the journal Za rubezhom (Abroad) 1930
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Posledneye otkrovenie social-democratov 1931 or after
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Hudozhnik-Revolucioner 1931 or later
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Zum Krisen-Parteitag der SPD 1931
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Noske schnallt den Säbel um 1932
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) John Heartfield und seine photographisch graphischen Arbeiten c. 1927
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Capitalism Robs You of the Last Piece of Bread (Das letzte Stück Brot raubt Ihnen der Kapitalismus) (Campaign poster for Communist Party member Ernst Thälmann) 1932
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Neuer Lehrstuhl an den deutschen Universitäten-Völkische Tiefenschau 1933
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Loyalty for Loyalty / Greetings from the Führer (Treue um Treue / Gruß vom Führer) 1934
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) Die Bücher im Malik Verlag Berlin c. 1929-30
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John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) "China Blutlet" by Agnes Smedley 1936
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