ABSTRACT
An artistic movement that began in neutral Switzerland during the First World War would be unlikely to be completely without any relation to politics. The Dadaists thought it obvious that the old bourgeois order was crumbling, and some suggested that the only alternatives were Bolshevism and Dada. The fact that the painting is done on board rather than on canvas, the positioning of the sitter, and the relative lack of fine-grained texturing contribute to making it resemble a huge playing card, or an entry in a glossy catalogue that has been blown up into a poster for use on hoardings. The body of the young woman in the painting is disposed so that it seems to fill the space entirely with the top of her head just grazing the frame. Modern fashion might seem to be a realization of the Dadaist appeal for a breaking down of the “bourgeois” distinction between art and everyday life.
