Music like Hartfield

John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a 20th-century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield also created book jackets for book authors, such as Upton Sinclair, as well as stage sets for contemporary playwrights, such as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator.

John Heartfield was born Helmut Herzfeld on 19 June 1891 in Berlin-Schmargendorf, Berlin under the German Empire. His father was Franz Herzfeld, a socialist writer, and his mother was Alice (née Stolzenburg), a textile worker and political activist.

In 1899, Helmut, his brother Wieland, and sisters, Lotte and Hertha, were abandoned in the woods by their parents after Franz Herzfeld, was accused of blasphemy. His family had to flee to Switzerland. Later, they were deported to Austria. When their parents disappeared in 1899, Heartfield and his siblings were left abandoned in a mountain hut. The four children went to live with an uncle, Ignaz, in the small town of Aigen.