The Art Movements Of The Dada Movement

Throughout history most Art Movements are born from another. These art movements draw inspiration from a former movement and expand on that. In my choice of art movement I decided to choose a movement that created the well-known movement of surrealism. Surrealism lesser known parent is the movement known as Dada. I decided to choose the Dada movement because I find this movement very interesting. This movement seemed to be a big middle finger to the big wigs of the art would in the late 1915’s to the early 1925’s. Even after the movement seemed to end it still had a lasting effect on the art world. According to Martin Filler, one of the most influential things the Dada Movement did was how it changed the way art is defined, made, and …show more content…
Duchamp was one of the artist that helped bring the notion of Dada to the United States. He did this with one of the most influential pieces of artwork known as “Fountain”. In reality Fountain is nothing more than a urinal that has been signed and turned on its side. Yet it was declared art by Duchamp. Why so is this art and how does this “art” represent Dada? To first get an understanding of how the Fountain is a piece of art you first much look past the real world aspect and look to the symbolism it carries. In my opinion the object used and the setting in which it was used plays a huge roll in symbolically telling you what the art is about. One thing that set this piece apart from other pieces of its time was that it was a “Ready-Made” piece. A ready-made piece is something that is already made and just needs to have a little background given to it. This form of ready-made art was classical with Dada because it takes normal already made objects that would normally be art and turns them into art. I believe the background speaks a lot about the work. It was a urinal laid on its side and sent into an art exhibit for its grand opening. I believe the message that Duchamp was trying to display was that he was metaphorically flipping the definition of art on its side and urinating on it. Because of this hidden meaning this piece became the epitome of what Dada represents. It takes something that in no way at all would be considered art and turns it into art not through its physical look but by its meaning and through symbolism. The main goal of the Dada movement is to challenge the cultural standards that had been in place for so long and get people to question the definition of art. The “Fountain” did that