The 1934 Brno exhibition of photomontages by the German artist Hannah Höch (1889-1978) is the first and simultaneously last solo show of this artist on the territory of today’s Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was organized by František Kalivoda (1913–1971), a Brno-based architect, graphic designer and promoter of modern art. He contacted Hannah Höch for a survey concerning film censorship, which he was preparing for the magazine Index and which was published in 1932 with her comments [anonymous author 1932, p. 91]. One year later, Kalivoda and Höch resumed communication, resulting in the Brno exhibition, but also in Hannah Höch's article Several Notes on Photomontage published in the magazine Středisko [Höch 1934, pp. 29-30].
Höch began to make photomontages soon after the First World War as a member of the Berlin dada; in this period, she created her famous Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Beer-Bellies of the Weimar Republic (1919). Although she broke away from her Dadaist circles in the 1920s, she did not abandon photomontage and created an extensive body of work using this technique. In the beginning, she created these works only for herself, presenting them publicly for the first time in 1929 at the legendary travelling exhibition Film und Foto, which premiered in Stuttgart. Shortly afterwards, she had several other exhibitions in many countries, including outside Europe. This prolific period, forcibly ended by the Nazi rise to power in Germany, was crowned by the exhibitions in Brno and The Hague. It was not until 1949 that Höch began to exhibit again.
The exhibition in Brno showcased Höch's own choice of photomontages. A large part of these works was from Höch's series From the Ethnography Museum, for which the artist used photographs of non-European art from museum collections. Oher works, such as the English Dancer and Lovers in the Country, are ironical comments on gender and racial cliches. Kalivoda gave an accompanying lecture at the exhibition entitled Fotomontáž bojovná a hravá (Combative and Playful Photomontage), which has unfortunately not survived to this day.
The Hannah Höch exhibition did not attract much attention in Czechoslovakia. This was probably due to the lack of publicity, as well as the extremely short duration of the exhibition - it was open for only one week. Yet, it is important from today's point of view, because it was part of the diverse, international network of European modernist movement in the interwar period. Thanks to the surviving sources, especially the correspondence between Höch and Kalivoda, we can better understand not only how the exhibition was prepared, but also the overall functioning of this extensive network. Kalivoda was one of its most important Czechoslovak figures, maintaining contacts with many artists active mainly in Germany, Holland and Switzerland. In addition to Höch, they include Hélène de Mandrot (1867-1948), Lázsló Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) and Raoul Hausmann (1886-1971). He used his contacts to start several collaborations resulting in lectures, exhibitions and publications both in Czechoslovakia and abroad. The Hannah Höch photomontage exhibition was one of them.
Simona Bérešová
Works Cited
anonymous author 1932: anonymous author, Anketa o filmové censuře, Index IV, 1932, no. 9–10, pp. 85–95
Höch 1934: Hannah Höch, Několik poznámek o fotomontáži, Středisko IV, 1934, no. 1, pp. 29–30
Further Reading
Simona Bérešová, Im Netzwerk des europäischen Modernismus. Korrespondenz zwischen František Kalivoda a Hannah Höch, Umění/Art LXIX, 2021, pp. 484–496
Jindřich Chatrný, Architekt František Kalivoda a hraběnka Hélène de Mandrot: Několik poznámek nejen k ose Brno – La Sarraz, Brno v minulosti a dnes 25, 2012, pp. 389–432
Maria Makela – Peter Boswell (edd.), The Photomontages of Hannah Höch (exh. cat. – Museum of Modern Art), New York 1997
Heinz Ohff, Die Ausstellungen, in: Heinz Ohff – Eberhard Roters, Hannah Höch – Eine Lebenscollage 1920–1945, Bd. II, Abt. 1, Berlin – Ostfildern-Ruit 1995, pp. 283–304
Markéta Svobodová, Bauhaus a Československo 1919–1938: Studenti, koncepty, kontakty, Praha 2016, pp. 174–182
Markéta Svobodová, New Stimuli for Optophonetic Works: Reflections of Science in the Theoretical Texts of the Architect František Kalivoda, Umění/Art LXVIII, 2020, pp. 378–388
Archival Sources
Hannah Höch’s letters to František Kalivoda from 16. 10. 1933, 7. 11. 1933, 27. 1. 1934 and two undated letters, City of Brno Museum, Department of Architecture History, Estate of František Kalivoda, Correspondence.
Letters from František Kalivoda to Hannah Höch, Berlinische Galerie, fonds Hannah Höch:
18. 10. 1933, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,3, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208623&viewType=detailView
11. 11. 1933, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,4, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208624&viewType=detailView
20. 11. 1933, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,5, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208625&viewType=detailView
2. 2. 1934, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,7, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208627&viewType=detailView
26. 2. 1934, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,8, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208628&viewType=detailView
6. 3. 1934, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,9, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208629&viewType=detailView
14.12.1934, sig. BG-Ar 5/95,6, permalink: https://sammlung-online.berlinischegalerie.de:443/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=208626&viewType=detailView
Výstava fotomontáží, Nová politika I, 1934, no. 6, 3. 3., p. 7
