The 1st Dada Exhibition was shown in January 1917 at the Galerie Corray on Zurich’s Paradeplatz (in the Sprüngli House), which, soon after, was taken over from Han Coray by the Dadaists, who continued to operate it under the name of Galerie Dada. It was their second exhibition and event venue after the Cabaret Voltaire had been closed down in July 1916. Their gallery classified among a number of already existing Zurich-based galleries of modern art, such as Tanner, Neupert, Bollag, and Wolfsberg.
The 1st Dada Exhibition presented, among other things, works by Hans Arp (a carpet, embroidery made by Sophie Tauber), Marcel Janco (a construction from wire and other materials), Hans Richter (Simultaneistische Landschaft [Simultaneist Landscape], a.o.), Marcel Słodki, and Max Oppenheimer, who withdrew his paintings from the vernissage due to some disagreement. The “negro sculptures” that also were on view came from the collections of Han Coray and Paul Guillaume, Paris. In lectures that accompanied the exhibition the twenty-year-old Tristan Tzara spoke about “L’art ancien et l’art moderne” (Old Art and Modern Art), “Du Cubisme” (On Cubism), and “Les artistes exposants” (The Exhibiting Artists). Lectures, guided tours, and discussion events to go with afternoon tea made the Dada Gallery a place of art education with a sense of mission.
Unlike the playful lettering poster by Marcel Janco, which explicitly advertised the “Exposition Dada,” this typographic design by Hans Richter never went into print. Richter made a name for himself in Zurich as an acerbic war chronicler and portraitist of the Dadaists. With his contacts to the so-called November Group and the Munich Council Republic, he sought to steer the art-political orientation of Dada Zurich in its final phase. This also was the time of his contacts to, and avant-garde experiments with, Viking Eggeling, which paved the way for abstract and structural film.
On the back of the poster design: “Imprimé Express. Monsieur Tristan Tzara, Zürich, Hotel Seehof, Schifflände. Exp.: H. Richter, Lugano, via Sorengo 20.” Postal stamp on the back partly illegible and some figures retraced. Edition: This design presumably is a unique print (trial proof). Provenance: The poster design came up in the 1968 auction “Items from the Library and Collection of Tristan Tzara (Kornfeld & Klipstein, Dokumentations-Bibliothek III, Bern)” in 1968 and was purchased by the Kunsthaus Zürich in 2003.
→ Hans Richter, Kaiser Wilhelm als Befehlshaber des Todes [Emperor Wilhelm as the Commander of Death], Z.Inv. 1977/44
→ Hans Richter, Dada-Kopf [Dada Head], Z.Inv. 1977/64
→ Viking Eggeling, Komposition, Z.Inv. 1970/2
→ Marcel Janco, poster design for Chant nègre [Negro Song], DADA V:47