German Dada photomontage as art of the “real”: on the path towards “new realism”

The subject of this research is such artistic practiced of German Dadaism as photography and photomontage. Relevance of this topic is associated not just with the growing interest of art historians, cultural critics and writers to the culture of Weimar Germany, but also active study by modern scholars of the peculiarities of functioning of the various visual practices, which emergence is substantiated by constant shift and mutual integration of different artistic mediums, among which special place belongs to photography and related photo techniques. Research methodology is of complex nature and suggests the uniformity of cultural-analytical, philosophical-anthropological and historiographical methods through studying primary sources, which include literary texts, essays and manifests of the key representative of German Dadaism. The author concludes on substantial role of the category of “real” in ideological-semantic component of the movement in question, appeal to which justified usage of photomontage technique by the Dadaists. The result of this research lies in determination of the fundamental philosophical-methodological and ideological-semantic aspect of photomontage practices of German Dadaists. The article briefly indicates the vectors of further development of Dada photomontage in Weimar Germany. The acquired results may serve as a pivotal point for future research in the area of Dada art, German art of “new realism” presented in the works of artists of the “new corporeity” and “magic realism”, as well as subsequent art movements of the XX century, characterized by the use of photographic and photomontage techniques.