The creative characteristics of John Hatfield

Like many Berlin Dadaists, John Hatfield injects obvious political motivations into Surrealist photos and is known as a nihilistic political photo editor. He edited the newspaper photos and created anti-Nazi propaganda placards and magazine illustrations. In particular, he tried his best to satirize Hitler, which frightened the Nazis. As a result, he was frantically persecuted, his works were burned, and his nationality was revoked. , played and was forced to flee to the Czech Republic.

The 1930s was an important period for Hatfield's creation. From 1930 to 1938, he produced 237 photographic montages for the Workers' Bild, the organ of the German Communist Party. He edited photographs and newspapers to create anti-Nazi propaganda placards and magazine illustrations, in which he went to great lengths to satirize Adolf Hitler. For example, in his most influential work "Superman Adolf Swallowing Gold and Vomiting Feces", the so-called "Superman" Hitler swallowed a large number of gold coins, filling his entire chest. There is also a description next to the photo: What he swallowed was gold and what he spit out was garbage. This photo, with clever editing techniques, fully exposed Hitler's hypocrisy and greed, and is said to have made Hitler himself very angry. In addition, in "The Significance of the Hitler Salute", Hatfield vividly reveals an "unsaid" fact through photographic montage: Hitler is a puppet manipulated by money from the German big bourgeoisie. "Wow, there's no more butter" is a satire of Goering's famous saying "Iron always makes a country strong, but butter and lard can only make people fat." In this work, not only the adults at the dining table are chewing steel to satisfy their hunger, but also the babies in the strollers and the dogs on the ground are chewing steel with relish. These works may seem absurd, but they vividly depict the essence of Nazi fascism. As a result, Hatfield was frantically persecuted by the Nazis, his works were burned, and his nationality was revoked until he was forced to live in exile in the Czech Republic.

It is unique in the history of photography that photographs have been used as political weapons and exerted such tremendous power.