John Heartfield

This is the 24th post in our Artist of the Week series.



John Heartfield was born in 1891 in Berlin, his real name was Helmut Herzfeld he anglicized his name in response to the rabid nationalism and hatred of the British that occurred in Germany during the first world war.

In 1918 he became involved with the Berlin Dada scene. He worked for the Reichswher film service until he was fired for supporting a strike. He then founded a satirical magazine called Die Pleite he began working with photomontage art. His art became popular enough that he was featured in two communist magazines Die Rote Fahne and Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung (AIZ).



When the socialists came to power in Germany he relocated to Czechoslovakia where he continued contributing to AIZ. He eventually moved to England when he feared a German take over of Czechoslovakia. After the war he settled in East Germany, Berlin.

His photomontages were often satirical works that criticized Hitler and the Socialist movement in Germany. His most famous works included images of Hitler himself.

He died in 1968.

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