New review: Putting the pieces together

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The Whitechapel Gallery’s current exhibition of Hannah Höch’s work is the first major UK exhibition dedicated to her. It is a vindication of her pioneering work on photomontage and gratifying considering her status as the only woman in the Berlin Dada group. Much of her art comments on the representation of women and the difficulties faced considering societal expectations.

Nerys Mathias found her work sharp and satirical:

Her collages are her greatest legacy. They are playful and tender. Whether poking fun at men in power or showing us the human condition, these collages are relevant today. ‘Heads of State’ is a particularly witty piece, showing the president and the minister of defence as overweight, mature men in swimming trunks. Behind them are simple and childish printed patterns; the sea in the foreground has cut-out waves that looks strangely like breasts or perhaps testicles. In my head I inserted a bare-chested Putin.

Click here to read Nerys’ review.

Photo:

Ohne Titel (Aus einem ethnographischen Museum)

(Untitled [From an Ethnographic Museum])

1930

Collage

48.3 x 32.1 cm

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg

Courtesy of Maria Thrun