Photomontage

The Book of Don Ades serves as an accessible and at the same time quite detailed introduction of photomontage as an artistic practice since the first edition, which had seen the light in 1976. This transfer was made from the third edition, published in 2021 with copyright additions and clarifications. Don Ades clearly outlines the context in which - in the crossing of ways of photography, cinema, press, politicians and avant -garde art on the time when all these areas of activity underwent violent transformations - photomontage attracted the attention of artists as a means of visual statement. The flowering of photomontage between the two world wars is thoroughly considered, when it became one of the most important mediums of Dadaism, surrealism and early Soviet engagement art. His specific rhetoric, developed by artists as Raul Hausman, John Hartfield, Laszlo Mojoy-Nad, El Lisitsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Gustav Klutsis, was picked up by non-conformers of the second half of the 20th century, whose work is also paid to attention in the book. The text is accompanied by numerous illustrations that make up the wide and impressive panorama of activist art, which effectively acts not only on the cultural, but also on the political stage