This is an important example of early Surrealist photography, crossing the line between Dada and Surrealism in the early 1920s. The piece expertly illustrates the Surrealist use of photomontage along with the technique of taking words and images from the established press to create a fresh, subversive statement that was highly innovative for the time. The work encapsulates the eclecticism and eccentricities of Dadaism, but also makes a pointed political statement against the staid establishment it is a carefully crafted homage to anarchistic opposition. One figure is transformed into something else by the addition of a de-contextualised newspaper clipping, such as the Kaiser's iconic moustache replaced by a pair of upside-down wrestlers. The effect is initially one of visual confusion, and yet a kind of nonsense-narrative begins to develop with sustained attention. Elsewhere in the collage, known proponents of Dada, such as Raoul Hausmann, are arranged in contrast to these establishment figures. In the top right corner Höch pasted together images of "anti-Dada" figures of the Weimar government and representatives of the old empire. The piece was exhibited in the First International Dada Fair, which took place in Berlin in 1920, and it was reportedly one of the most popular pieces in the show. Though one of Höch's earliest works, this ambitious collage is unusual within her canon for being particularly large it measures 35 x 57 inches.
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