Zervigón exposes man behind camera

by Melissa Lau
Features Editor

One man. One camera. One war. One truth.

Associate Professor of Art History Andrés Zervigón spoke about the man behind the camera last Thursday at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

According to the Getty's web site, the museum hosts presentations on art history every year, exploring current topics and themes. This year the presentation was titled "'Heartfield's Doubt'-Truth, Lies, and Photomontage."

John Heartfield, a German, anti-Nazi photographer, used photography as a tool to compare the truth with lies during World War I.

Rather than building up the positive image of the war through the use of propaganda, Heartfield captured the brutal truth on film. He photographed the numerous men who were killed and the bodies of men who were suffering and lying on the ground.

Then he used these photographs as a comparison to the propaganda. He took the photos and cut them into different sections, only to reassemble them to create a contrasting image. He accomplished this by taking images of a propaganda photo and incorporating the images he had photographed, into a single picture.

Because Heartfield exposed the truth, he became the No.1 target on the Nazi's list. He had to escape in order to survive. Zervigón emphasized that he was not necessarily wanted because of his damage to the government, but because of the damage done to the Nazi image.

Zervigón chose to speak on this particular topic for one of the same reasons he chose to study art history: politics and art.

"It's the best combination of art and politics one could ever imagine," Zervigón said.

He also feels no one yet has explained Heartfield's work thoroughly enough, and Zervigón has attempted to achieve this through his lecture.

Zervigón believes it is an appropriate time to speak about the truth in photography because of the new technology that is being used to alter photographs today.

The 45-minute speech by Zervigón was followed by a reaction by Joan Weinstein, scholar of early 20th century German art and chair of the Getty Grant program.

Following this, audience members were invited to ask questions.

Roger Garcia, a junior art major, attended the lecture and stayed for the discussion.

"I thought is was a great talk. He went through every topic very thoroughly," Garcia said.

Garcia also added that Zervigón got straight to the point.

"He's [Zervigón] an expert on what he knows," Garcia said.

Department Chair Ruth Trotter also attended the event.

In addition to Trotter, the lecture was attended by many of Zervigón's colleagues from Occidental College and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Zervigón plans to use the information from his talk in the second chapter of a book he is hoping to publish within the next two years. However, this will depend on when he receives his post-doctoral fellowship.

Zervigón has been doing lectures for about five years, so this was not new ground for him.

He was able to give his speech through a request that he sent to the director of the series last fall. Zervigón asked the director if he would like someone to speak on Heartfield's work, and the director approved. Luckily Zervigón notified them early enough, and a date was set up for him to give the talk.

This Sunday, there will be a lecture on railroads and Manifest destiny. It will talk about how railroads played a big role in American culture. For more information on future events and exhibits, visit www.getty.edu.

Typically reservations must be made for parking at the Getty, however students are the exception. If students present a student ID, they can park without a reservation. Parking is $5 and there is no admission fee to enter the Getty.