Our list of some of the best Dadaism books & series in recent years. Get inspired by one or more of the following books.
- Dada (2015)
- Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, Paris (2008)
- The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, Second Edition (Paperbacks in Art History) (1989)
- Dada: Art and Anti-Art (Second) (World of Art) (2016)
- Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (2004)
- Modernism Since Postmodernism: Essays on Intermedia (1997)
- Dada & Surrealism For Beginners (2007)
- Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada, and Everyday Modernity―A Cultural Biography (The MIT Press) (2003)
- Tenants and Cobwebs (Middle East Literature In Translation) (2018)
- Style For Actors 2nd Edition (2009)
- A Book of Surrealist Games (1995)
Dada (2015)
Eminent scholar Rudolf Kuenzli presents a rich selection of the Dadas’ experimental visual and literary works to give a lively, accessible and comprehensive assessment.
Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, Paris (2008)
Now available in paperback, this lavishly illustrated and astonishingly comprehensive volume stands as the definitive study of the influential but deliberately elusive international Dada movement of the early twentieth century.
The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, Second Edition (Paperbacks in Art History) (1989)
The Dada Painters and Poets offers the authentic answer to the question “What is Dada?” This incomparable collection of essays, manifestos, and illustrations was prepared by Robert Motherwell with the collaboration of some of the major Dada figures: Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, and Max Ernst among others.
Dada: Art and Anti-Art (Second) (World of Art) (2016)
“One of the best and most consistently interesting documents on this extraordinary movement that has been published.” ―The Sunday Times“Where and how Dada began is almost as difficult to determine as Homer’s birthplace,” writes Hans Richter, the artist and filmmaker closely associated with this radical movement from its earliest days.
Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (2004)
The avant-garde movements of Dada and Surrealism continue to have a huge influence on cultural practice, especially in contemporary art, with its obsession with sexuality, fetishism, and shock tactics.
Modernism Since Postmodernism: Essays on Intermedia (1997)
BACK IN PRINT!!! Modernism Since Postmodernism: Essays on Intermedia by Dick Higgins ISBN 1-879691-43-4 (1997/2014) paper, 252 pp. US $22.95 Modernism Since Postmodernism: Essays on Intermedia completed Dick Higgins’ critical trilogy that began with A Dialectic of Centuries: Notes Towards a Theoryof the New Arts and continued with his Horizons: The Poetics and Theory of Intermedia.
Dada & Surrealism For Beginners (2007)
What kind of artists put a mustache on the Mona Lisa? Enter a urinal in an art competition? Declare their own independent republic? Hijack a ship?Dadas!And what happens in such a movement? With Dada, many of the artists declared their own “Pope” and continued their journey (with no destination) into Surrealism, creating burning giraffes, “amoebic” dogs, and lobster telephones – some of the most imaginative and intense works of art of the 20th Century.
Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada, and Everyday Modernity―A Cultural Biography (The MIT Press) (2003)
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874–1927) is considered by many to be the first American dadaist as well as the mother of dada. An innovator in poetic form and an early creator of junk sculpture, “the Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances. Some thought her merely crazed, others thought her a genius.
Tenants and Cobwebs (Middle East Literature In Translation) (2018)
Samir Naqqash’s stirring novel Tenants and Cobwebs nostalgically commemorates the lost culture of an ancient Iraqi Jewish minority living amidst a majority Muslim population in 1940s Baghdad. The plot unfolds during a time of great turmoil: the rise of Iraqi nationalism and anti-Jewish sentiment fueled by Nazi propaganda; the Farûd, a bloody pogrom carried out against Jewish residents of Baghdad in 1941; and the founding of Israel in 1948.
Style For Actors 2nd Edition (2009)
“Style is a journey from tourist to native. It is living in the world of the play, not just visiting it.” – from Chapter One Anyone who has ever struggled with capes, fans, swords, doublets and crinolines should make Style for Actors 2nd Edition their constant companion. Robert Barton has completely updated his award winning handbook for the 21st century with contemporary references and up-to-date illustrations.
A Book of Surrealist Games (1995)
This delightful collection allows everyone to enjoy firsthand the provocative methods used by the artists and poets of the Surrealist school to break through conventional thought and behavior to a deeper truth.
Best Dadaism Books Worth Your Attention
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some dadaism books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are really chart-busters according to Los Angeles Times, others are drafted by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.