Similarities in Blast and 291

Throughout issues of 291 I have found that the magazine in general is a lot more focused on art and music in comparison to BLAST and its interest in the war.  Both covers have similar drawings on the front cover. Blast, as we discussed in class, is directly related to the war and is depicting an image of soldiers in battle.  291 has a cover that is a little more difficult to interpret.  The sketching is most likely related to the section on the front cover “Economic Laws and Art”, which discussed the progression of art in America and the direction it is heading.  I chose this cover because not only was it the only Dada magazine I could read, but the cover also looked similar to Blast. There is another section on the cover entitled “Do Not Do Unto Others” discussing America’s restrictions that are imposed on oversea goods in a time of peace.  This section briefly touches on America’s relationship with other countries overseas and how we think of ourselves as dominant, which is why we restrict other countries from entering our own.

 

 

Also, inside of 291 there was another drawing with words on top of it, almost making up part of the picture.  I thought this was interesting because there is a section in Blast where Ezra Pound wrote poems and I thought it would be interesting to see his poems written out in the artistic format that 291 uses.