After Dada : Marta Hegemann and the Cologne Avant-Garde

Focuses on the little known Magical Realist painter Marta Hegemann (1894–1970), re-inserting her into the histories of avant-garde modernism -- .

What happened in 1920s Cologne ''after Dada''? Whilst most standard accounts of Cologne Dada simply stop with Max Ernst''s departure from the city for a new life as a surrealist in Paris, this book reveals the untold stories of the Cologne avant-garde that prospered after Dada but whose legacies have been largely forgotten or neglected. It focuses on the little known Magical Realist painter Marta Hegemann (1894-1970). By re-inserting her into the histories of avant-garde modernism, a fuller picture of the gendered networks of artistic and cultural exchange within Weimar Germany can be revealed.

This book challenges orthodox interpretations of the Cologne avant-garde by demonstrating the existence of a continued active and vibrant avant-garde artistic culture in the city ''after Dada'' in which women artists, critics, dealers and collectors played a major role.

After Dada: Marta Hegemann and the Cologne avant-garde is an important addition to research on Weimar visual culture and will be invaluable to students and specialists in the field.