Biography
RAOUL HAUSMANN
Raoul Hausmann was born on 12th July in 1886 in Vienna. He was the son of the academic artist Viktor Hausmann and, in 1900, at the age of fourteen, he and his family moved to Berlin where he devoted himself to studying painting.
In 1918, together with Richard Huelsenbeck, George Grosz, John Heartfield, Wieland Herzfelde, Hannah Höch and Hans Richter, he founded the Dada Club, the Berlin nucleus of Dadaism. In the dramatic climate of the post-war years in Germany, the Dada Club was characterised by its strong political and social commitment and by a particularly aggressive polemic attitude. In 1918 he published the group’s first manifesto, developed optophonetic poetry and created works using the technique of photomontage, of which he is considered one of the inventors.
In 1919 he founded the magazine "Der Dada" and, together with Grosz and Heartfield, the following year he organised the international Dada exhibition at the Nierendorf Gallery in Berlin. In the meantime he also came into contact with the Constructivists and continued his research into new expressive forms until the decided, towards the mid-twenties, to temporarily abandon painting in order to devote himself to photography, later publishing numerous theoretical articles on the subject.
In 1933, with the rise of Nazism, he left Germany and moved to Ibiza, where he produced photographs that were later published in the Swiss magazine "Camera" and in Man Ray’s album "Nus". He left Ibiza in 1936, moved first to Zurich, then to Prague and, finally, in 1938, to France, where he settled in Limoges. In 1967 the Modern Museum of Stockholm organised the first large-scale retrospective of his work. Raoul Hausmann died in Limoges on 1st February 1971.
In 1918, together with Richard Huelsenbeck, George Grosz, John Heartfield, Wieland Herzfelde, Hannah Höch and Hans Richter, he founded the Dada Club, the Berlin nucleus of Dadaism. In the dramatic climate of the post-war years in Germany, the Dada Club was characterised by its strong political and social commitment and by a particularly aggressive polemic attitude. In 1918 he published the group’s first manifesto, developed optophonetic poetry and created works using the technique of photomontage, of which he is considered one of the inventors.
In 1919 he founded the magazine "Der Dada" and, together with Grosz and Heartfield, the following year he organised the international Dada exhibition at the Nierendorf Gallery in Berlin. In the meantime he also came into contact with the Constructivists and continued his research into new expressive forms until the decided, towards the mid-twenties, to temporarily abandon painting in order to devote himself to photography, later publishing numerous theoretical articles on the subject.
In 1933, with the rise of Nazism, he left Germany and moved to Ibiza, where he produced photographs that were later published in the Swiss magazine "Camera" and in Man Ray’s album "Nus". He left Ibiza in 1936, moved first to Zurich, then to Prague and, finally, in 1938, to France, where he settled in Limoges. In 1967 the Modern Museum of Stockholm organised the first large-scale retrospective of his work. Raoul Hausmann died in Limoges on 1st February 1971.
