Department
Art History
Date
5-2021
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Art History (M.A.)
Type of Paper/Work
Qualifying paper
Advisor
Victoria Young
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Kindall
Third Advisor
Craig Eliason
Abstract
As a former member of the Berlin Dadaists, Hannah Höch was deemed a degenerate artist by the Nazi Party during World War II. Instead of fleeing her home country of Germany, she chose to stay and hide within the garden and home she cultivated for herself in the small town of Heiligensee. Her photomontages Light Sails (1943-46) and Dream Night (1943-46) were created during this chaotic time and are a reflection of the context of her life and her garden. It is these three components of life, garden, and art that work together to sustain Höch during this time. In order to understand their interrelationship, this work employs landscape architect and theorist Kenneth Helphand’s qualities of sanctuary, life, and protection as found in his book Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Menendez, Taylor, "The Power of the Garden in Hannah Höch’s Photomontages During World War Two" (2021). Art History Master's Qualifying Papers. 47.
https://ir.stthomas.edu/cas_arthistory_mat/47