Adolf, the Superman, Swallows Gold and Spouts Tin, 1932 John Heartfield “USE PHOTOGRAPHY AS A WEAPON!,”-John Heartfield Greed. This singular word sums up the photograph completely, as greed “is an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs”. This sums up the goal of Hitler as a leader and the Nazi regime. The picture shows Hitler with a chest X-Ray over the top of his upper torso, with a spine made out of coins and money settling at the bottom of his stomach. His face is tilted upwards and contorted which looks like he is in the middle of a speech. The English translation of the pictures title is “Adolf, the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk”(1932). Is this not a perfect title for everything that Hitler and Nazi …show more content…
He created quick-witted propaganda posters to combat the powerful meaning of the Swastika. Another example of this is: “Whoever Reads Bourgeois Newspapers Becomes Blind and Deaf: Away with These Stultifying Bandages!” (1930) This was a staged photograph of a mannequin’s head covered by newspaper articles. Which relays the images that you are literally blinded by the controversy and the prejudices of the country. In the chaos of Germanys slipping social and economical climate in the 1920’ s-1930, Heartfield’s images helped change photomontage into a form of mass communication. Bertolt Brecht quoted Heartfield’s work to be “this new form of art he exercises social criticism steadfastly on the side of the working class." One must consider the impact this image had during this time and if he succeeded in relaying the message that was originally intended. Such strong political statements in art are still being made today; this is due to Heartfields role in the development of Dada movements. Dadaism was intended to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer through Abstraction and