Blog Post 2 Ryan Quirke

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Heartfield, J. (1929) Book Jacket 1929. Retrieved from https://justseeds.org/jbbtc-34-john-heartfield-pt-5/ on January 22, 2020

This photo intrigued me because the person on the right is wearing a half ruling class and military uniform. I think that this implies that the ruling class and military in Germany had authority over the working class. The cover utilizes colors of red, yellow, and white and the person is wearing a blindfold with the german flag which symbolize nationalism. I find it interesting how John Heartfield uses historic black letters to shape the voice of the person with alternating colors. The person looks very cartoon-like. There is a sense of unity on the left side with the baton and sword aligned proportionately.

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Heartfield, J. (1932) Adolf the Superman: swallows gold and spouts junk. Retrieved from https://rokantyfaszystowski.org/en/john-heartfield/ on January 22, 2020

I searched for more photos from John Heartfield because I was intrigued by his eccentric way of joining images together to create a message. If you look closely at the base of hitler, there is coins that shape the spine of hitler which could suggest that hitler was greedy. It suggests that hitler is speaking nonsense and only of self interest. There is a white swastika located at his heart and a black iron cross right below it which are symbols of the nazi party. The title of the work is "Adolf the Superman" which patronizes hitler because this photo does not characterize hitler to be a perceived as a hero.

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 Heartfield, J. (1930). Whoever reads bourgeois newspapers becomes blind and deaf: aways with the stultifying bandages! Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/artist/heartfield-john/artworks/#pnt_6 on January 22, 2020

This is another photo from John Heartfield and selected it because I like how this person's face is covered in a german newspaper. I think it signifies that this person was oblivious to the real world outside of what is displayed on the newspaper. Because the person's head is covered in the paper, the person is blind and deaf to everything around him. This could cause people to question the credibility of this certain newspaper.

Comments

  1. Ivy MarkhamJanuary 22, 2020 at 12:51 PM

    I also browsed through more of John Heartfield's work because I found the examples in the book very intriguing. I was surprised by how much of his work gives off this dark, creepy feeling as shown in the examples you used. The way he composes his pieces is very effective in getting his message across. Also, the amount of his work that attacked Hitler for being greedy and controlled by the government is something I've never really learned about. It's very interesting to see how he and others voiced their opposition to Hitler.

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  2. Allan GuintuJanuary 22, 2020 at 12:52 PM

    Great choices to blog about. I also chose that Heartfield poster. He's one of my favorite designer because of his style. In the reading I saw Varvara Stepanova's work and it is similar. Her work in photomontage really inspired artist like Heartfield.

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