Photomontage across Central and Eastern Europe

• In Event: Photomontage in Motion: USSR and Central Europe

Abstract

The German-language Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung magazine became famous for it pioneering uses of photomontage, which it developed well before the arrival of its most famous contributor John Heartfield in 1930. Already in its first years, editors devised two different modes, one of biting critique largely reserved for the West, and another of adulation often focused on the Soviet Union. This paper explores the dynamics of significatory deferral and addition that characterized these two approaches to montage.

Author

• Andres Mario Zervigon, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey