Marcel Duchamp is a French painter and sculptor. He’s often associated with Dadaism, which is a term coined by himself around the time of his readymades in 1913. Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase” is oil on a canvas. It’s known as one of the most famous of it’s time. The artwork was confusing for me to make out when I first viewed it, but it very clearly depicts the lines of motion. You can tell that the figure is walking down a set of stairs. The lines come off as very sketched, which helps show the figure in motion. What we don’t know from viewing this figure is if it’s actually a human and thats what I believe is exciting about this work. The lines that make up the body parts are very boxy and unknown.
Hannah Hoch is another artist that was mentioned in the article. She is also a Dada artist, but the difference between her and Duchamp is that she is German. She’s most known for the art form known as photomontage, which involves taking two or more photos and merging them into one photo. Within her work, Hoch is very clever which is what excites and intrigues me about her. But with her piece “Tailors Flower,” pictured below, Hoch goes more abstract instead of sticking with her typical Dada roots. Apparently she had worked with textiles quite a bit, which made her go more into abstract work than staying within the Dada style. What I believe is interesting is that this piece is about a flower, but the flower is the main focus in the oddest way. It’s the smallest, but most noticeable object in the artwork. The lines behind the flower are being experimented with, mainly because we see a mixture of dotted lines, curved lines, straight lines, hashed lines. They all come together to create this very interesting and moving piece.