Hans Richter, the artist and filmmaker who helped start this radical movement, records Dada's history, from its beginnings in wartime Zurich, to its collapse in Paris in the 1920s, to its reappearance in the 1960s in movements such as Pop Art. Dada led on from Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism, and in turn prepared the way for Surrealism. It was enlivened by extravagant and complex personalities--notably Tzara, Picabia, Arp, Schwitters, Duchamp, Ernst, and Man Ray--whose contributions are fully discussed and illustrated in this definitive work. 179 illus., 8 in color.