It Changes With Seasons: Androgyny in Dada and Surrealism: from Marcel Duchamp to Lady Gaga

Salvador Dalí

“It is in the freeing of both the natural and artificial bodies that art is created.”

Both Dada and Surrealism cannot be understood just as new art movements, but also as social ones. While the first began in Switzerland during World War I and the second started around the 1920s (when some people thought Dada was already dead, some other not, for instance it is clear i nthe essay written by Man Ray that you can find below) they share a lot of common things that cannot be avoided: "Both movements are widely known for their visual art works, art manifestos and theory. A crossover exists between the movements and artists associated with both occasionally worked together and shared ideas.”“. But truth is Surrealism kind of grew out of the ashes of Dada, expanding itself into limits that Dada could not achieve (such as international politics). The most important difference between them may be that while Dada was opposed to art itself and its aim was to object World War I, Surrealism rose using art as a means of communication.

Fountain, M.Duchamp

Nevertheless, I am going to focus on a big similarity they have: expressing art through ambiguity and androgyny. Marcel Duchamp started this in 1917 when he created his Fountain and following this his interpretation of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa (LHOOQ). Salvador Dalí's Mona Lisa just took 40 years to appear (even more androgynous). They both had some issues with their gender identity, To illustrate this you may know that Marchel Duchamp had an alter ego called Rrose Selavy and liked to dress up as a woman and be photographed (the picture here was taken by Man Ray, for instance). On the other hand, it is more familiar to us (due to Salvador Dalí's hometown) that the rumours of his homosexuality were quite loud.

"By masking the Mona Lisa with masculine features, they are not only displaying a modern androgyny but reinforcing the adrogyny that was already depicted by DaVinci, something that led to rumors that the the Mona Lisa was truly a self-portrait of DaVinci himself in drag."

Claude Cahun was also an artist who exemplified androgyny.

Man Ray stated Dadaism wasn't dead at all... could it be dead these days? Most of us deduce that when something seems not to be mainstream (let's say, in this case, physically) it can be considered straight away kind of monstrous. Well, that perfectly fits Dada and Surrealism. Turning to the present and what we can understand accurately, is not that what a current artist like Lady Gaga is trying to do? "We infer based on something’s lack of ordinariness that it is disgusting or somehow linked to something inhumane, in some cases one might say uncivilized." As we said above, Dada was apart from art, but Surrealism wanted to create an art that could be established as a modern way to understand society. She doesn't only sing, she wants to create a magnificent perfomance including surrealistic aims in order to create art. She even has a male alter ego who provoked the shock of her fans. We mustn't forget to mention the great influence of Pop Art (and specially Andy Warhol) that is shown in her outfits and performances. All of this cannot be understood without the presence of androgynous elements, following Dada and Surrealism, since the LGBT community is growing more a more every day. Can we now dare to say that these movements have been, are or may someday be dead?