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You’ve seen a Dadaist work of art, though when you saw it someone was probably poking fun at the silly bicycle wheel posing as art (Bicycle Wheel, by Marcel Duchamp). The joke’s on us, though. The Dadaists meant to turn our world upside, to make it seem crazy and absurd. They meant for us to rethink the items that surround us so that we might rethink our world.
Dadaism began in Zurich, Switzerland and spread to France, Germany, Spain, and the U.S. The movement began around 1916 and continued until about 1920.
The artists known as Dadaists thought that World War I was a terrible thing. They thought it was ridiculous for people all over the world to spend years killing each other. Because the war shaped the world in which these artists lived, this distaste for WWI became a distaste for the state of the world.
The Dadaists protested through their art the war and the current culture. Raoul Hausmann’s The Mechanical Head shows a man who cannot think for himself but accepts everything he is told. He has a wooden head with tight lips and eyes that show no expression. The mechanical man will never argue or share an opinion of his own. Look for yourself:
According to the Dadaists, once the culture had been stripped down it could be rebuilt. So the Dadaists made chaos out of the WWI culture by, for instance, calling a urinal a fountain and putting it on display (shown below, by Marcel Duchamp). The Dadaists took common objects and created art with those objects, thus bringing out the often ignored beauty of the everyday world. Marcel Duchamp also poked fun at the masters by “reworking” the Mona Lisa.
Dadaism paved the way for other art movements such as Surrealism which I’ll post about next week. The movements that follow Dadaism were charged with the responsibility of rebuilding what the Dadaists had stripped away.
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In December you learned about Piet Mondrian. Mondrian’s art became more abstract over time until his paintings contained only lines and rectangles of five colors: black, white, red, blue, and yellow. I recommend that you reread that post to refresh your memory before continuing with this project.
Also in December, I posted a Mondrian-inspired painting project. The project I am sharing with you today is much simpler. It’s also not nearly as messy and requires fewer supplies. I’m pleased with how my artwork came out and I think you’ll have good results, too.
Supplies Needed:
Construction Paper: Black, White, Red, Yellow, Blue
Glue Stick
Scissors
Gather your materials. You will use a full sheet of black and less than one sheet each of the other colors.
Do not cut your sheet of black construction paper. It will be the background of your artwork and will form the black lines between colors. Cut various sized rectangles, strips, and squares of white, red, yellow, and blue.
Lay your colors onto your black paper. If necessary, cut the rectangles so they fit onto the paper. Play with the rectangles until you like the look of your artwork.
To complete your artwork, use your glue stick to attach the rectangles to the black paper.
This is a great project to do with a group of kids. It is not too difficult or time consuming, and each child will create a unique piece.
Don’t forget to check out my post on De Stijl, the art movement to which Piet Mondrian belonged.
You may also be interested to create your own edible Mondrian painting.
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Yesterday you learned about Alexander Calder, his circus, his stabiles, and his mobiles. Today, try your hand at creating a mobile, just like Calder.
Supplies Needed:
Construction Paper
Scissors
Hole Punch
Thread (or yarn for younger children)
Sticks White Glue
This is a great project for older kids who are learning about weight and balance, though, with a little help, younger children can also enjoy creating mobile art.
Gather your materials. Venture outside to collect some sticks. Look for sticks of different lengths but try to choose slim sticks rather than fat ones. Then choose as many or as few colors of construction paper as you wish.
Cut out shapes from your construction paper. I chose to make rounded forms but you can cut any shapes you want. You can even cut out fish or birds. Punch a hole at the top of each cut out.
Lay your sticks out in the order you plan to tie them. I made only four levels but Calder’s mobiles could be much larger. Often his mobiles had five or more levels. The more levels you create, the more difficult it will be to balance your mobile. I would not make your mobile much larger than mine.
Tie your sticks together. Leave the threads or yarn a little loose so you can slide them along the sticks if you need to adjust later. Next, tie the shapes to the sticks.
Have an adult help you hang your mobile from the ceiling or in a doorway. Your adult helper can also help you fix the balance of all the parts of your mobile. Start at the top of your mobile and work your way down. Slide the top thread back and forth along the uppermost stick until the stick hangs straight. Dab a little glue on the thread to hold it in place. Do the same for the next stick and then the next until all of your sticks hang horizontally.
Enjoy your mobile as it swings and spins with the air currents in your home.
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Alexander Calder invented the mobile. Because of Calder, babies all over the world are lulled to sleep by colorful dangling shapes. Calder also created an entire miniature circus which could be packed into briefcases and carried back and forth between America and Europe. He was certainly a unique artist.
Calder was born in Pennsylvania in 1898. His parents were both artists. His father was a sculptor and his mother painted portraits. They knew it was difficult to earn money as an artist so, though they encouraged Calder to create art, they did not want him to choose to art as a job.
Alexander Calder’s talent could be seen even in his first sculpture, which he created when he was four years old. As he continued to sculpt, Calder became interested in sculpture that moved. He created a duck that rocked when tapped and a train that ran down a track.
He followed his parents’ advice and studied engineering in college. Calder wasn’t happy in any of the jobs he worked after college, though, and decided to become an artist after all.
While he studied at the Artist Students’ League in New York, Calder sketched for the National Police Gazette. One of his assignments marked the beginning with a love and fascination for the circus: he sketched scenes from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Calder moved to Paris in 1926 where he began to build toys that moved. These toys eventually became his own miniature circus. He packed his circus into suitcases and performed in the U.S. and in Europe. You can see a video clip of Cirque Calder at YouTube. Calder seems like quite a character.
Calder’s interest in movable art led him to create mobiles. Air currents caused the mobiles to move. Calder also created sculptures that didn’t move. He called them “stabiles.” Most of them were made out of painted wood or metal. Check out the official Alexander Calder website to see pictures of these mobiles and stabiles.
In 1973 Calder painted a plane for Braniff International Airways. The plane became a “flying canvas.” He painted one more plane and began a third before he died in 1976.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you how to make your own Calder-inspired mobile!
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Now that you’ve been subjected to my attempt, check out this cool roadrunner made completely out of trash.
