Emmy Hennings

A fixture at Zurich nightclub the Cabaret Voltaire (co-founded by her husband, leading Dadaist Hugo Ball) and the Galerie Dada — where she sang, recited her written works, danced, and performed with puppets — Emmy Hennings was publishing poetry in anarchist publications well before the days of Dada. Poet, professor, and performance artist Crystal Hoffman writes a fascinating history on Hennings, who remains largely absent from the Dada library:

Hennings preferred to keep from history most of the creative work produced during her long career as a member of Munich and Zurich’s Avant-Garde inner circles, as it would unfortunately also reveal a long career as a morphine addict, prostitute, and hustler, who frequently promoted free-love, anarchy, and social revolution, and spent several stints in prison, at least once for forging passports for draft dodgers. For this reason, it seems that Emmy Hennings welcomed individual artistic anonymity in favor of becoming a footnote to Hugo Ball’s career.