Rajesh Punjabi GR616 - Making Ideas Visible Influences John Heartfield In 1891, John Heartfield was born as Helmut Herzfelde in Berlin, Germany. As a child he, his younger brother, and two sisters were abandoned in the woods by their parents. e children spent time with their uncle in the town of Aigens, in Germany. Heartfield became an apprentice bookseller in 1905 before moving to Munich to study at the Royal Bavarian Arts and Craſts School from 1908-1911. Herzfelde began an internship as a graphic artist in Mannheim but returned to Berlin and attended school until 1914. At the start of WWI in 1916, Germany developed a anti-British attitude that led to Helmut Herzfelde to protest by changing his name to John Heartfield. In 1917, Heartfield became a member for the German Communist Party (KPD) and a follower of the Dada movement, which included Hannah Hoch, Edwin Piscator, and Bertolt Brecht. He then founded the Malik-Verlag publishing house, along with his brother Wieland Herzfelde and George Grosz, for which he was in charge of the graphics. ey would be responsible for the publication of Die Pleite, a German periodical of their own creation which was in production from 1919-1924. e magazine was noted for its criticisms and challenges against the German government prior to Nazi occupation known as the Weimar Republic. (Figure 5.1) From 1924-1933, Heartfield’s reputation grew and spread through his designs for the magazine, AIZ (Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung or e Workers Pictorial Newpaper). e magazine functioned as the main publication for the Communist party throughout the war. He used a form of photomontage, which combines photographs oſten with other mediums, with heavy political themes. His fame would reach its peak with e Hand Has Five Fingers (Figure 5.2), which contains an image of a workers hand and the caption, “5 fingers make a hand! With these 5 grab the enemy.” Heartfield worked on his propaganda for AIZ in Berlin until 1933 (Figure 5.3), when the Nation- al Socialists came to power and the SS attempted to apprehend him. He escaped and fled to Prague, Czechoslova- kia where the publication of AIZ had also relocated (Figures 5.4 - 5.7). Aſter Czechoslovakia fell victim to Nazi invasion in 1938, Heartfield moved to Hampstead for a year until moving to the United States with his brother and family in 1939. He remained in the United States for the duration of WWII designing covers for Penguin Books among other thing. John made attempt to return to Berlin in 1950 but the German Police were reluctant to grant Heartfield admission considering his time spent in England. As a result, he was not allowed to work as an artist and was denied health benefits but he built theater sets for Picator and Brecht. In 1956, with support from Brecht and Stefan Heym, Heartfield was admitted to the East German Akademie der Kunste (Academy of Arts). He continued his work there, although the theme of his photomontages focused on the threat of nuclear war, until his death on April 26th, 1968 in Berlin, Germany. 1