John Heartfield
1891-1968
John Heartfield, original name in full Helmut Franz Josef Herzfeld, (born June 19, 1891, Berlin, Germany—died April 26, 1968, East Berlin, East Germany), German artist best known for his agitprop photomontages—collages of text and imagery found in mass-produced media—and his role in the development of the Dada movement in Berlin. The child of politically active socialist parents, Heartfield (who retained the name Herzfeld until 1916) witnessed the political persecution of his father, writer Franz Herzfeld (who wrote under the pen name Franz Held). The Herzfeld family fled Berlin, first moving to Switzerland. About 1899, when they were forced to seek refuge outside Switzerland, his parents abandoned him and his siblings. Information about who cared for them at that point is ambiguous. Heartfield studied graphic design at the Royal School of Arts and Crafts in Munich, specializing in poster and advertising art. Soon after completing his studies, about 1912, he found his first job as a graphic designer for a paper-packaging company in Mannheim, though that position lasted for less than a year. Before the outbreak of World War I, Heartfield moved to Berlin with his brother, Wieland…
Films