JOHN HEARTFIELD (1891-1968) NIEDER MIT DEN KRIEGSHETZERN. 1932. 29x19 inches. Westdeutsch Buchdruck Werkstatten, Dusseldorf. Condition B+: repaired tears in margins; vertical and horizontal folds. Japan. John Heartfield was born in 1891 as Helmut Herzfelde. Emphatically anti-fascist, his strong political beliefs colored every aspect of his life and much of his art. In 1916 he changed his name to John Heartfield as a direct challenge to the prevailing Anglophobia that was gripping Germany during the First World War. The first milestone in his accomplished artistic career was in 1918 when, with George Grosz and several other artists, he founded the Berlin Dada group. After the war his focus became more political, and he joined the Communist Party in 1918. The 1920s were a particularly active, artistically fertile time for Heartfield: He began creating photomontages (what would ultimately become has signature medium) for the covers of books published by the left-wing Malik publishing house in Berlin. He also began regular anti-fascist, photomontage contributions to AIZ (Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung) and produced powerful posters for the Communist Party. With the continued rise of the fascist powers in Germany, Heartfield was forced to flee and went to Prague where he continued his artistic attack on Hitler's regime. When Germany invaded Czechoslovakia Heartfield again was forced to escape, this time heading for England. In 1950 he returned to what was then East Germany, where he turned his talents towards designing posters for theatrical productions. One of at least two variations of this poster. The first, printed in 1929 was in a horizontal format and bore the inscription "Schutzt die Sowjetunion / Heraus zum 1 August 1929! / Gegen imperialisten Krieg und Kriegsgefahr". Here, extolling the people to vote Communist "Down with the war mongers! Fight for the Soviet Union" Heartfield presents an immediately recognizable image of a Soviet Union under attack from all quarters, appearing small beneath the barrels of the fascist artillery. A prescient warning. Wem Gehort p. 304, Rademacher p. 180.
