Dada in Zurich, Berlin, Paris: the failure of a gender revolution?
Résumé
Dada is generally considered as both an artistic and a cultural revolution. Not only did the dadaists radically question the conception of the artist and the artwork; they also revolutionised the traditional comprehension of the relation between art and society. But it seems that women are absent from the historiography of Dada. Is the reason that there have only been very few female Dadaists and Dada historiographers? Or does this (relative) absence have to do with a lack of scholarly research on the subject, which in turn is due to a lack of editorial work, which kept the work of female Dadaists largely unknown? Building on the studies of Hemus (2009), Boesch (2015) and Adamowicz (2019), this talk will explore the role of women in the Dada revolution as well as in Dada historiography. It will also examine whether the success of Dada as an artistic and a cultural revolution should not be re-evaluated. Focusing on Emmy Hennings, Hannah Höch, Ré Soupault and Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia, I will argue that Dada failed to allow women to truly exist and be recognized as artists. Male Dadaists and historiographers in part reproduced oppressive social conventions that led to the omission of women from Dada history. The extent of Dada’s avant-gardism should therefore be re-evaluated.