The Beautiful Girl Hannah Hoch Analysis

Hannah Hoch was a famous female artist that was born on November 1, 889. She became widely known for her work during the Weimar period and her photomontages. Hannah created photomontages that described her political and social views on what was known as the “New Girl” Era. She was a participant of the Dada movement and would promote the idea of women working more in society.

During the “New Girl” Era, women in Germany suffered discrimination because of the fact that they were not men. They lived in an era that was almost entirely run by men. Women were given less job opportunities and were finally given women’s rights, but were not able to fully use them because they were still restricted from doing many things. This lead to Hannah’s creations of her photomontages that were inspired by her social and political views on this era.

Hannah created “The Beautiful Girl” around 1919

It also contains a decapitated woman dressed in a bathing suit who is sitting in the center of the piece with a light bulb replaced as her head. On top of the light bulb is what seems to be a cut out of a female hairstyle. It is also made upon a tan colored background giving the photomontage an antique look. Furthermore, the piece also contains a boxer that appears to be emerging from the tire. This combination of cut outs gives the impression that women were progressing slowly and that society was industrializing as well. During this time, women were looked at in an entirely different way. They were considered to have more freedom, which is why Hoch added the women dressed in a bathing suit. Since women were still living in a society ran by men, she added the female parts to show that women were not paying that much attention to themselves, but struggling to survive in the unstable, male dominated society. She also added the car parts to show how society was industrializing and how they were counted on to help Germany boost up the