What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology
The Dada Painters and Poets offers the authentic answer to the question "What is Dada?" This incomparable collection of essays, manifestos, and illustrations was prepared by Robert Motherwell with the collaboration of some of the major Dada figures: Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, and Max Ernst among others. Here in their own words and art, the principals of the movement create a composite picture of Dada--its convictions, antics, and spirit.
First published in 1951, this treasure trove remains, as Jack Flam states in his foreword to the second edition, "the most comprehensive and important anthology of Dada writings in any language, and a fascinating and very readable book." It contains every major text on the Dada movement, including retrospective studies, personal memoirs, and prime examples. The illustrations range from photos of participants, in characteristic Dadaist attitudes, to facsimiles of their productions.
464 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 1989
9 people are currently reading
632 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 21, 2021
They don't make resources like this anymore.
What a dang pleasure to have so many hard-to-find primary sources in one place. From Cravan's hilariously insightful critiques ("it is not likely that this artist is one of those who think, on completing a masterpiece: I'm not done laughing yet.")–to the big bounty of Arp's writings ("Angels are no economists. Magnificently they squander their light"), so much core here. And speaking of cores, doesn't it seem like our artists have become economists first, sadly, never squandering, only pandering and parading, applying and displaying, always standing in line to show reverence for an authority, even treating Dada as an authority, at least sending a platitude of authoritarian love, perfectly epitomizing the faux embrace of Dada by those flaunting advocacy from power.
To paraphrase Huelsenbeck, in his post post post manifesto from 1949, our reliance on artist statements to guide how to fund work has resulted in the "debas[ing of] art to the level of slick illustration.”
And as our dominant literary culture has set itself up, at heart, as stemming from a need for consolation, the amount of refreshment available in this one volume is enough to saturate the gambols of even the most dexterous big blind.
Refreshing, refreshing, refreshing, like a long shower after a pre-apocalyptic hailstorm. Let me say refreshing again: so refreshing to read cover-to-cover rather than here-and-there like when I first picked it up, all assignment-betwixy.
There are some semi-insignificant typos that it's fun to register the way one registers a new canine facial expression, like on p. 268, where it says that the translation of Picabia’s "La Pomme de Pins" is on p. xxxi, but it’s actually on xxxvii (and worth comparing visually with the reproduction).
Get one now!
What a dang pleasure to have so many hard-to-find primary sources in one place. From Cravan's hilariously insightful critiques ("it is not likely that this artist is one of those who think, on completing a masterpiece: I'm not done laughing yet.")–to the big bounty of Arp's writings ("Angels are no economists. Magnificently they squander their light"), so much core here. And speaking of cores, doesn't it seem like our artists have become economists first, sadly, never squandering, only pandering and parading, applying and displaying, always standing in line to show reverence for an authority, even treating Dada as an authority, at least sending a platitude of authoritarian love, perfectly epitomizing the faux embrace of Dada by those flaunting advocacy from power.
To paraphrase Huelsenbeck, in his post post post manifesto from 1949, our reliance on artist statements to guide how to fund work has resulted in the "debas[ing of] art to the level of slick illustration.”
And as our dominant literary culture has set itself up, at heart, as stemming from a need for consolation, the amount of refreshment available in this one volume is enough to saturate the gambols of even the most dexterous big blind.
Refreshing, refreshing, refreshing, like a long shower after a pre-apocalyptic hailstorm. Let me say refreshing again: so refreshing to read cover-to-cover rather than here-and-there like when I first picked it up, all assignment-betwixy.
There are some semi-insignificant typos that it's fun to register the way one registers a new canine facial expression, like on p. 268, where it says that the translation of Picabia’s "La Pomme de Pins" is on p. xxxi, but it’s actually on xxxvii (and worth comparing visually with the reproduction).
Get one now!
October 8, 2014
Pulled this off my shelf this morning looking for a bit of inspiration and opened directly to:
Which, oddly, I do find inspiring, in that it undercuts the cult of personality and ego while at the same time heightening a complex interest in the whole wide world.
Dada's often portrayed as a thoughtless prankster type of nihilistic art, but I think it is much more a forceful getting back to essentials, to a purer source of creativity that is actually life-affirming, however culturally destructive it must necessarily be at times.
Hugo Ball: Dada Fragments (1916-1917)
The Dadaist trusts more in the sincerity of events than in the wit of persons. To him persons may be had cheaply, his own person not excepted. He no longer believes in the comprehension of things from one point of departure, but is nevertheless convinced of the union of all things, of totality, to such an extent that he suffers from dissonances to the point of self-dissolution..."
Which, oddly, I do find inspiring, in that it undercuts the cult of personality and ego while at the same time heightening a complex interest in the whole wide world.
Dada's often portrayed as a thoughtless prankster type of nihilistic art, but I think it is much more a forceful getting back to essentials, to a purer source of creativity that is actually life-affirming, however culturally destructive it must necessarily be at times.
December 15, 2019
Robert Motherwell has assembled a Rashomon-like collage of Dada writings that conjures the Dada state of mind at its best. Old feuds are refought as original text clash with current (at the time of writing, circa late 1940s) ones to herald the death and rebirth of Dada. I was on post-op goofballs after a hernia operation while reading this and often the words blurred into opium dreams, but that felt appropriate. Whether Dada is found in the contemporary art that duct tapes a banana to a wall or not is up for discussion, all I’ll say is that this group that emerged 100 years ago continue to inspire me and might have the only practical blueprint to survive the brutal reality in which we now find ourselves.
January 9, 2014
Opinions of the individual Dada writers aside: as an anthology and a collection of historical literature this book is fantastic. Without a doubt the best way to have an in-depth familiarity of Dada and it's significance.
But the title is somewhat misleading, this isn't really an art book. There are few images and all in black and white (I recommend Dietrich et al's "Dada" for a visual anthology). There isn't really that much poetry either (these dorks did write a lot of poetry). It's mostly manifestos (and some letters and such), but that is the written form the Dadaists seemed to used the most.
However, I find the inclusion of most of the post-1930 texts to be unnecessary/irrelevant while important texts from the movement's active period were omitted:
Walter Serner's The Swig About the Axis Manifesto, 1919 and The Last Loosening Manifesto, 1918
George Ribemont-Dessaigne's Manifesto, 1920
Hugo Ball's Dada Manifesto, 1916
Picabia's Manifeste Cannibale Dada, 1920
Huelsenbeck's En Avant Dada: A History of Dadaism, 1920
Schwitters' A Dramatic Fragment
As well as the sound poetry of Schwitters and Ball (though obv. you have to listen to it but still needs mention)
Some excerpts from Tzara's plays would've been nice as well, but it's still the best Dada literature resource available.
But the title is somewhat misleading, this isn't really an art book. There are few images and all in black and white (I recommend Dietrich et al's "Dada" for a visual anthology). There isn't really that much poetry either (these dorks did write a lot of poetry). It's mostly manifestos (and some letters and such), but that is the written form the Dadaists seemed to used the most.
However, I find the inclusion of most of the post-1930 texts to be unnecessary/irrelevant while important texts from the movement's active period were omitted:
Walter Serner's The Swig About the Axis Manifesto, 1919 and The Last Loosening Manifesto, 1918
George Ribemont-Dessaigne's Manifesto, 1920
Hugo Ball's Dada Manifesto, 1916
Picabia's Manifeste Cannibale Dada, 1920
Huelsenbeck's En Avant Dada: A History of Dadaism, 1920
Schwitters' A Dramatic Fragment
As well as the sound poetry of Schwitters and Ball (though obv. you have to listen to it but still needs mention)
Some excerpts from Tzara's plays would've been nice as well, but it's still the best Dada literature resource available.
July 14, 2008
This is an outstanding anthology filled with indescribable nonsense and radical posturings that make the Dada movement so fascinating and still relevent. Dada was so incendiary that Surrealism seemed like two steps back. Check this out for plenty of inspiration from inspired lunatics who made astounding art.
March 2, 2014
The movement dada always fascinated me in particular Raoul Haussmann, poête, photographer and painter. That Motherwell was interested in this subject was very exciting.Néo-expressionism versus dada confrontation is fertile. This book success in describe dada status of thinking.
Very interesting?
Very interesting?
July 29, 2008
This is my Bible.
April 24, 2014
Absolutely fucking brilliant. I'd read this every night before I go to bed, if only if that wouldn't traumatize me.
January 16, 2023
Well rounded and more readable than I initially expected. I feel like I have come away with a solid understanding of the mindset behind the Dada movement and there are a lot of interesting jumping-off points for further research. If you want to get into Dadaism this seems like a pretty good place to read some key primary sources.
A couple cons- I personally would have liked more focus on the actual objects and events of the movement, more discussions of the paintings, etc. It is very focused on the "ideals" and "philosophy" of Dada, but then again, it seems like so were most of the artists. I would have liked more specificity. The more artsy the segment of the movement is, the more interesting, at least for me. The more political or genuinely anti-art, the more boring. Arp, Picabia, Ernst, Schwitters, to a lesser extent Tzara, very interesting. Huelsenbeck and Breton came off as pretty insufferable and no fun. I also know for certain that there were some pretty central female figures in Dada and proto-Dada that were either covered not extensively or not at all in this. The little I read about Sophie Tauber-Arp was interesting, and the complete lack of Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven was honestly kind of shocking from a contemporary perspective. This is probably more damning of the primary sources than it is of the editor, but I think you should compensate this flaw by also reading a newer secondary text on women in Dada.
Overall, there's some really cool innovative writing in here and it seems to collect a lot of interesting big names and perspectives in Dada. There are some neat facsimiles of early pamphlets/zines and the visual art featured throughout the book has been cool, but come into this expecting it to be much more literature focused than visual art focused. That didn't end up being a very bad thing for me as the Dada/surrealist literature does a lot of interesting things, but I could see it being more disappointing for someone going into it.
A couple cons- I personally would have liked more focus on the actual objects and events of the movement, more discussions of the paintings, etc. It is very focused on the "ideals" and "philosophy" of Dada, but then again, it seems like so were most of the artists. I would have liked more specificity. The more artsy the segment of the movement is, the more interesting, at least for me. The more political or genuinely anti-art, the more boring. Arp, Picabia, Ernst, Schwitters, to a lesser extent Tzara, very interesting. Huelsenbeck and Breton came off as pretty insufferable and no fun. I also know for certain that there were some pretty central female figures in Dada and proto-Dada that were either covered not extensively or not at all in this. The little I read about Sophie Tauber-Arp was interesting, and the complete lack of Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven was honestly kind of shocking from a contemporary perspective. This is probably more damning of the primary sources than it is of the editor, but I think you should compensate this flaw by also reading a newer secondary text on women in Dada.
Overall, there's some really cool innovative writing in here and it seems to collect a lot of interesting big names and perspectives in Dada. There are some neat facsimiles of early pamphlets/zines and the visual art featured throughout the book has been cool, but come into this expecting it to be much more literature focused than visual art focused. That didn't end up being a very bad thing for me as the Dada/surrealist literature does a lot of interesting things, but I could see it being more disappointing for someone going into it.
June 5, 2019
A very good collection of these artists.
If you want to study Dada, a must.
If you want to study Dada, a must.
June 15, 2020
One of the more influential books (on me) I've ever read.
December 4, 2010
YES! Indeed verrily this is the Dada handbook wrirtten in their own hand. Complete with manifestos and first person sources. Contains countless valuable insights for those wishing to understaand Garry W. Shores in more than a cursory manner
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews