Hero*ines

HANNAH HÖCH

* 1st November 1889 in Gotha, today Germany

† 31st May 1978 in Berlin, today Germany

Anna Therese Johanne Höch was a German graphic and collage artist who was a Dadaist. Dadaism (or Dada) was an artistic movement that sought to break away from traditional art forms as well as to reject bourgeois society. As a “revolutionary of art” Hannah Höch is one of the central figures of classical modernism. She is considered one of the most important German artists of all time. Höch left behind an extensive and very diverse body of work. Her artwork was presented in numerous exhibitions around the world.

Between 1933 and 1945, she was banned from exhibiting her work because it had been labeled “degenerate art” by the Nazi regime. In 1965, Hannah Höch was appointed to the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Höch commented on her body of work with the statement, “I did everything without care for signature or form.“

In 1926, Hannah Höch became acquainted with the Dutch writer Mathilda “Til” Brugman. They fell in love and lived and worked first in The Hague, then later in Berlin. Höch was also twice married to a man. She was bisexual.