

Hannah Höch was born
Anna Therese Johanne Höch] in
Gotha, Germany. From 1912 to 1914 she studied at the College of Arts and Crafts in
Berlin under the guidance of Harold Bergen. She chose the curriculum glass design and graphic arts, rather than fine arts, to please her father. In 1914, at the start of
World War I, she left the school to work with the
Red Cross. In 1915 she returned to schooling, entering the graphics class of the National Institute of the Museum of Arts and Crafts. Also in 1915, Höch began an influential friendship with
Raoul Hausmann, a member of the Berlin
Dada movement. Höch's involvement with the Berlin Dadists began in earnest in 1919. After her schooling, she worked in the handicrafts department for Ullstein Verlang [The Ullstein Press], designing dress and embroidery patterns for Die Dame [The Lady] and Die Praktische Berlinerin [The Practical Berlin Woman]. The influence of this early work and training can be seen in her later work involving references to dress patterns and textiles. From 1926 to 1929 she lived and worked in the
Netherlands. Höch made many influential friendships over the years, with
Kurt Schwitters and
Piet Mondrian among others. Hausmann, along with Höch, was one of the first pioneers of the art form that would come to be known as
photomontage.


