Tag Archives: John Heartfield

#6/10: Which artist of today reminds you of the John Heartfield of yestercentury? (#7 expires Sept 1, #6 expires Sept 8) #rigid #tkol

Posted on by Muggs

Aug 24, 2011:

@ChieftanMews: #6/10: Which artist of today reminds you of the John Heartfield of yestercentury? (#7 expires Sept 1, #6 expires Sept 8) #rigid #tkol

The sixth of a series of weekly questions Mew’s provides two hashtags with his question along with the information that he will be taking replies until the 8th of September… though what he had planned to do with them is still unknown. #7 refers to a 2nd question ( @ChieftanMews: #7/10: No more hiding: “The atom had a positive, a negative & a neutral” & “Later for the date than the hadron collider” & “I am open.” ?? )

#rigid short for “I’m rigid with excitement” which was a quote from Episode 2 of The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time.

#tkol which is a abbreviation of The King of Limbs.

In this case he asks fans to provide suggestions of contemporary artists who remind them of John Heartfield a German artist who was best known for his political ‘photomontages’ during the 1930-1940s which satirized the Nazi Party. Chieftan Mew’s later tweeted one example of his work entitled ‘O joyful, o blessed, miracle-bringing time.’ featuring a choir of angels wearing gas masks.

Photomontage is a technique for making composite pictures that pre-dates the use of computer software such as Photoshop. Instead the photos where cut and glued by hand to create a new image which was then sometimes photographed in order to create a seamless print.

According to Thom Yorke The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time was named after a John Heartfield collage. You can read more about it in the post about the Christmas image here.

Many of the replies seemed to point towards Banksy the pseudonym for a English graffiti artist famous for his political work and dark humor as a possible contemporary for John Heartfield:


( Source: Banksy.co.uk )

We’d love to hear what answers other people sent to Mew’s ‘quiz’!
Let us know in the comments or email muggs@ersmenoo.com.

Seasons Greetings: http://i.imgur.com/zG5X8.jpg

Posted on by Muggs

Dec 16, 2011:

@ChieftanMews: Seasons Greetings: http://i.imgur.com/zG5X8.jpg
@ChieftanMews: Stay crazy. Stay detuned. ␄

A straightforward holiday tweet? .. not quite.

Chieftan Mew’s tweeted the following image with ‘Seasons Greetings’ followed by a message to Stay Crazy and the usual Stay detuned / End of Transmission


(Source: @ChieftanMews on Twitter)

Thanks to Google we know the image is of a Photomontage by John Heartfield titled “O joyful, o blessed, miracle-bringing time.” made in 1935.

John Heartfield originally coined the phrase ‘The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time’ as Thom explained during a online Q&A in response of a fan asking for the meaning of TMGLMOAT:

It’s after a John Heartfield collage. He was a German artist in the 30s and 40s he changed his name to disown himself from the rise of the Reich in Germany. It is a title of one of his collage paintings which were all cut up, subverted propaganda from the Third Reich.

You can read the rest of the interview from 2003 Here.

Art for a Change gives us a interesting rundown of what the ‘Christmas Card’ Mew’s tweeted is about.

The anti-militarist Christmas message from John Heartfield published on December 26, 1935, in the German magazine, Arbeiter-Illustriete Zeitung (AIZ, or “Worker’s Illustrated Paper”).

The title of the photomontage, O du fröhliche, O du selige, gnadenbringende Zeit (O joyful, o blessed, miracle-bringing time), was taken from one of Germany’s most popular Christmas carols.

Heartfield made a number of photomontage works that touched upon Christmas and how its message of peace was being subverted by the forces of war and fascism.

For instance, in the 1934 Christmas edition of AIZ, the artist published his photomontage, O Tannenbaum im deutschen Raum, wie krumm sind deine Äste! (O Christmas tree in German soil, how bent are thy branches). The artwork depicted a Christmas tree with its branches twisted into the shape of a swastika.

The cover of the 1933 Christmas issue of AIZ featured a photograph of an American battleship with the headline, “And Peace on Earth!” When opening the magazine the reader would see a Heartfield photomontage on the first page – its message read, “Peace on Earth? No peace on earth, as long as the poor become poorer!” Heartfield’s artwork depicted hungry Germans peering into an upscale shop window that was bursting with Christmas merchandise they could not afford.