Dadaism (1916-1922) arose out of anti-war sentiment. It began in Zurich, Switzerland and was “art for art’s sake.” The artists who started the movement picked a random nonsense word from the dictionary (dada is French for “hobby horse,“ a child‘s word for dad in English, and “yes yes“ in Russian). The artists were disillusioned with modern society and rejected traditions and rules of art. It was a commentary on the crazy world; the world had lost it’s mind, so art would lose it’s mind. It eventually became anti-art as well.

There are no defining characteristics of Dadaism. Collage was big and DuChamp, the most famous of the Dadaists, created ready-mades- objects already created that he changed just a little bit. Photograms were created.

"Untitled" photogram by Man Ray



Hannah Hoch's "Dada Dance" (collage/photomontage)

DuChamp’s "L.H.O.O.Q." (ready-made)