The works and legacy of John Heartfield in context.
Citation Summary:
Extending knowledge of Heartfield’s oeuvre with 1938 move to the UK, émigré work, return to GDR, 1950, and legacy since 1968. Exhibitions: Hyatt, J., (Curator) May 8-11 2018, ‘The Gift of John Heartfield’, Tapestry, Liverpool; Hyatt J., (Researcher), 17July – 9 August 2019, ‘Brave New Visions, Sotheby’s, London; Hyatt J., (Co-curator with Mitchell, C., Rees-Sheriden, R., Thomas, O.), 1 November – 8 February 2019-20, Heartfield: One Man’s War, Four Corners Gallery, London. Catalogue: Berlin, S., Hyatt, J., Mitchell, C. Heartfield: One Man’s War, Four Corners, pp. 1-12, ISBN 978-1-9164007-2-6. Article: Hyatt, J., ‘Fighting Hitler with photomontage’, Jewish Renaissance, January 2020, pp. 29-31.
- Submitting institution
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Liverpool John Moores University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32JHYA3
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
- Multiple
- Brief description of type
- Multi Component Output
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- May
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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1 - Contemporary Art Lab
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Since 2016, Professor Hyatt has investigated a range of sources, including primary interviews with Heartfield’s descendants, memoires, and British Secret Service surveillance files. This culminated in a series of unprecedentedly extensive exhibitions in Liverpool and London; text output; workshops and educational events that gave a richer context and new perspective on Heartfield’s iconic pre-WWII photomontage works, under-researched wider oeuvre, and legacy. In Liverpool, 2018, Hyatt rediscovered and restored a boxed set of 33 Heartfield prints. The prints were a Cold War export from GDR, following Heartfield’s unwilling repatriation there in 1950 until his death in 1968. Designed to be staged as an exhibition, the prints were a gift to Liverpool School of Art in 1972 from Gertrud, Heartfield’s widow. Hyatt staged the exhibition in its intended original form for the first time. In a new gallery he constructed for purpose, unlike previous Heartfield exhibitions (e.g. ICA 1969, Bluecoat 1989), Hyatt’s curation presented original Communist labels and highlighted a Cold War contest for Heartfield’s legacy. At Sotheby’s, 2019, Hyatt was asked to research Heartfield’s dealer, Paul Wengraf. Multi-source synthesis, including primary interviews with Wengraf’s descendants, reconstructed Heartfield’s arrival and 1939 exhibition in London with new completeness and detail. At Four Corners, London, 2019-20, a previously uncurated additional range of Heartfield’s British work contextualised Heartfield as émigré in 1940s Britain. Professor Hyatt accompanied exhibitions with authored text publications (Four Corners catalogue and Jewish Renaissance magazine); educational programmes, including American grandson, Professor John J Heartfield and leading Heartfield scholars (Walker Art Gallery, Four Corners); public talks by himself (Jewish Community of Oxford); and press coverage. This helped Heartfield’s work reach new audiences and the next generation. It was timely in a context of global threats to Democracy, the acceleration of “fake news” due to digital media, and growing racial intolerance.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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