So macht Man Dollars

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So macht Man Dollars

Artist John Heartfield (German, 1891-1968)

Publisher Malik-Verlag, Berlin, 1931

Printer J. B. Hirschfeld (Arno Preis), Leipzig

Author Upton Sinclair (American, 1878-1968)

Date1931

DimensionsBook: H: 7 3/8 in. (188 mm); W: 4 15/16 in. (126 mm); Depth: 1 1/8 in. (28 mm).
Page: H: 7 5/16 in. (185 mm); W: 4 13/16 in. (122 mm).

MediumReproduction (jacket): photolithograph of photomontage with line block reproduction in gold on white wove coated paper. Text: letterpress on cream wove paper (typeface: Didot).

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.550

Not on View

Label TextJohn Heartfield, a founder of Berlin Dada and life-long Communist, designed this dust jacket for the German translation of Upton Sinclair's Mountain City (1930). Heartfield had his brother and two friends photographed climbing scaffolding, then inserted in its place a huge gold dollar sign. For the back flap, he converted a staged scene of stock traders into a crowd of worshippers before the golden calf grafted into an enormous dollar bill. Using "photography as a weapon," Heartfield made photomontages to expose the functioning of economic and political power. John Heartfield, So macht Man Dollars (Thus One Makes Money). Also called Mountain City. Text by Upton Sinclair (1931) Although he was a German citizen, during the First World War John Heartfield changed his name from Helmut Herzfelde, in part to protest the patriotic frenzy in his country. Heartfield was an artist who used his talents to advance a cause. He often worked with German satirical artist George Grosz and was part of the Dada movement in Berlin. He specialized in photomontage, which is a collage of photographic images—whole or in fragments. In his hands, the technique became a major form of political satire. Heartfield loved to combined words and images. Like many of the Russian and German artists of the period, he appreciated the impact that the design of type could have when incorporated into visual images. The cover of So macht Man Dollars is a prime example of this connection. The photographed figures are climbing on a giant dollar sign, which in turn forms the first letter of the title. Heartfield routinely designed the covers for the Workers’ Illustrated Paper (Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung) and for other novels printed by the left-wing publishing house Malik-Verlag—including works by Upton Sinclair, Richard Wright, and Maxim Gorky.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Pop Prints from the TMA Collection, Jul. 7 - Oct. 8, 2006

Toledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14 - May 11, 2003

Toledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars, Sept. 5 - Dec.31, 2008.