Kurt schwitters merz barn project and the associated lakeland heritage landscape gardens at the cylinders. Merzbilder a brief account of kurt schwitters life and. When he was 14, he had his first epileptic fit, signifying the start of a recurring condition that the artist felt continually impacted how he related to the world. Kurt schwitters poems is an innovative, narrative poem loosely based on the life and art of the renowned modern german collage artist, kurt schwitters. The father kurt 18871948 is the preeminent collagist of the 20th century, as well as an important sound poet. As a boy, he travelled with his father to the 1900 worlds fair in paris.
Kurt schwitters was born 20 june 1887 and died on the 8th january 1948. He is most famous for his collages, called merz pictures. The proposal is a collage by the german artist kurt schwitters. To make the work, he cut the seven pieces of printed paper from a magazine and affixed them to the surface of the lithographic illustration to form a rectangular composition. The forthcoming exhibition about kurt schwitters at tate britain gives us a great opportunity to consider the artists work and, in particular, how the merzbau, his lifetime architectural and sculptural project, has influenced architecture merzbau is a strange name. Soon after world war i schwitters was attracted by the emerging dada school, a nihilistic literary and artistic movement dedicated to the destruction of existing aesthetic values. Tate images will be, along with the rest of tates offices, closed on extended staff leave from monday 6th to monday 27th of april. It suggests a building, but in fact it is an internal. Cherry picture was created in 1921 by kurt schwitters in dada style. A conflict between a brash contemporary society and nineteenthcentury restraint seems to be suggested. My immediate interest was the modernist legacy of kurt and ernst schwitters. The kurt schwitters society was founded in 2010 in order to facilitate communication between those interested in. Artwork by kurt schwitters the proposal, artstack art.
Kurt schwitters collected garbage from the streets that he built into dada collages of harmonious, yet sentimental arrangements. An artist, poet, and typographer, kurt schwitters invented his own unique aesthetic style, which he dubbed merz in 1919. Kurt schwitters merzbau a dissertation presented to the open. Color and collage, the first solo retrospective of schwitterss work in the united states in twentyfive years, makes a compelling case for the artists continued. Kurt schwitters ursonate complete poem with verses. Schwitters most ambitious work is a no longer existent multimedia construction that he eventually named the merzbau. The museum of modern art, new york city kurt schwitters collected garbage from the streets that he built into dada collages of harmonious, yet sentimental arrangements. Schwitters studied at the dresden academy of art with otto dix and george grosz, and after. Kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters 20 june 1887. Refused by the berlin dadaists, he started a oneman dada group in hannover called merz. The house in hanover was destroyed in an air raid in october 1943, and with it his first merzbau and many of his works which he had left behind. Schwitters is a german artist, typographer and writer, who was associated with dadaism, although he was never an active member of any dada group. Find an indepth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. Kurt schwitters ausgerenkte krafte dislocated forces artsy.
Pdf kurt schwitters merzbau gwendolen webster academia. This project, located in the artists hanover studio, began as a single column comprised of cardboard scraps, newspaper clippings, and varied detritus. Today is the occasion to bear in mind, the german dada artist kurt schwitters 2061887811948. We are not able to respond to requests during this period. Schwitters worked in several genres and mediums, including dada, surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, collage, sculpture, and what came to be known as installations. Shop for vinyl, cds and more from kurt schwitters at the discogs marketplace. Kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters 20 june 1887 8 january 1948 was a german. Kurt schwitters was heavily influenced by a number of postworld war i avantgarde movements, including the berlin dadaists, the cubists, and the german expressionists. After studying at both the school of applied art and the royal academy of art in germany, kurt schwitters experimented with abstract and expressionist painting before becoming involved with the dada movement, an artistic philosophy based primarily on incongruity, absurdism, and nonsense. Schwitters is generally considered to be the master of collage, and his works, at the time of creation, would not fit into any preexisting brackets such as expressionism, futurism, etc. Though initially associated with german dada, he later started his own oneman movement merz, and. The international dada archive has extensive holdings of works by and about schwitters. Some words to kurt schwitters ursonate, by jaap blonk kurt schwitters was born in hannover in 1887.
Mar 23, 2017 kurt schwitters ursonate complete poem with verses displayed pamela fox. Kurt schwitters material relating to kurt schwitters compiled by his english companion, mrs edith wantee thomas mostly after the artists death in 1948. Kurt schwitters, german dada artist and poet, best known for his collages and relief constructions. Nonsense word invented by the german dada artist kurt schwitters to describe his collage and assemblage works based on. Selections from the merzbook won 3rd prize in the cbc literary competition. Kurt schwitters merzbild het kersenschilderij 1921 assemblage x cm. According to the memoirs of raoul hausmann, schwitters asked to join berlin dada either in late 1918 or early 1919. Find more prominent pieces of figurative at best visual art database. Pdf kurt schwitters and the museum of modern art adrian. Kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters 20 june 1887 8 january 1948 was a german artist who was born in hanover, germany. Kurt schwitters june 20, 1887 january 8, 1948 was a german painter who was born in hannover, germany. Sep 01, 2012 schwitters is a german artist, typographer and writer, who was associated with dadaism, although he was never an active member of any dada group.
The importance of kurt schwitters extends to more branches of western art than most twentiethcentury artists. He was a german artist who worked in many creative industries such as, poetry, painting, graphic design and many more. Schwitters studied at the dresden academy of art with otto dix and george grosz, and after showing in berlin in 1918 was introduced to dadaists. Kurt schwitters 18871948 from raoul hausmann, the dada artist often credited as the founder of photomontage, we link to his friend and sometime colleague, kurt schwitters.
Kurt schwitters, modernism, antiart, psychogeography. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography, and what came to be known as installation art. In this media, schwitters is world famous for his extraordinary contribution to. Schwitters, kurt 18871948 routledge encyclopedia of. Merz is sensing without knowing kurt schwitters, 1920. Artwork page for the proposal, kurt schwitters, 1942 the proposal takes its title from the nineteenth century lithographic illustration over which schwitters pasted sections of a magazine advertisement.
Merz is a nonsense word invented by the german dada artist kurt schwitters to describe his collage and assemblage works tate papers read about william blake s exhibition of 1809, drawing as a modern art practice, and the concept of the sublime. Ise, visits a popular kelantanese pati street food stall, run by the gregarious shamsul, and observes the preparation of some local favorites for a group of loyal customers. Artist and writer associated with the dada movement in hanover. His groundbreaking merzbau, completely misunderstood in its time, is now regarded as the precursor of contemporary artforms like installation, environment, assemblage and sitespecific art.
He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and playwright, as. Kurt schwitters kurt schwitters biography poem hunter. It takes the form of a nineteenthcentury lithographic illustration over which the artist has pasted. Kurt schwitters ursonate complete poem with verses displayed pamela fox. Reassembling schwitters culture architects journal. Kurt schwitters is most commonly associated with dada, but his relationship to that movements aesthetic, political, and philosophical rebellion was ambivalent. Kurt schwitters was a german painter associated with the dada movement, who worked in several genres and media, including poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography and what came to be known as installation art.
Kurt schwitters was born on june 20, 1887 in hanover, germany. Kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters was a german painter who was born in hanover, germany. Sep 25, 2015 kurt schwitters merz barn wall moves on german artist kurt schwitters final masterpiece is transported from a remote lakeland valley to an art gallery in september 1965 kurt schwitters. Totally forgotten by the art world, kurt schwitters died of heart failure in kendal in january 1948. He was loosely associated with the radical dada movement from the end of the first world war, and he had great significance for surrealism and for the experimental trends of later periods such as performance, happenings, fluxus, etc. The proposal kurt schwitters 222 artworks, 4,764 followers kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters 20 june 1887 8 january 1948 was a german artist who was born in hanover, germany. Innovative german born artist who is probably best known for his collages and assemblages. Ise, visits a popular kelantanese pati street food stall, run by the gregarious shamsul, and observes the preparation. He was an artist, graphic designer, typographer, set designer, and poet who, among many other accomplishments, wrote the ursonate, a spoken text piece based on a sound poem by raoul hausmann. The dada art movement began as a reaction to world war i and was influenced by expressionism and cubism.
Kurt hermann eduard karl julius schwitters 20 june 1887 8 january 1948 was a german artist who was born in hanover, germany schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography, and what came to be known as installation art. Associated with the dada movement, painter, poet, and mixedmedia artist kurt schwitters is best known for his collage and assemblage works in which he transformed appropriated imagery and text from print media into dynamic and layered compositions. Kurt schwitters merz barn wall moves on art and design. The high colour of the advertisement is set against the monochrome of the print. Kurt schwitters merz barn wall moves on german artist kurt schwitters final masterpiece is transported from a remote lakeland valley to an art gallery in september 1965 kurt schwitters. Kurt schwitters, herman edward karl julius schwitters, kurt herman edward karl julius schwitters, schwitters ulan 500026542 view the full getty record. Kurt schwitters was a german artist involved in both dadaism and constructivism. Kurt schwitters, merz pictures 32 a the cherry picture, the museum of modern art, new york city. Kurt schwitters 18871948 was a prominent figure in european art history during the first half of the 20th century.
For schwitters, this merz label became an ironic brand name for a practice that aimed to collapse consumer and media culture into a total work of art. Berkeley, ca, june, 2011download a pdf version of this press release. The archive has microfilmed large portions of the kurtschwittersarchive at the. Kurt schwitters kurt schwitters, london c1948 link by playing futures. His life and art were disrupted by the first world war, which made his work darker and it developed an expressionist tone. Art skill collage art history kurt schwitters and dada art kurt schwitters was a german artist who created art during an art movement called dada. His parents were proprietors of a ladies clothes shop. When the germans invaded norway in 1940, schwitters fled to england, spending several months in internment camps before taking up residence in london and then, in 1945, in the lake district. After fleeing germany, schwitters had begun to build new versions of his merzbau, first in oslo and then despite his rapidly deteriorating health in the lake district. He studied at the applied arts school, the art academy and the institute of technology. One of the most extraordinary modern artists of the early 20th century, the german dada artist kurt schwitters is considered to be the greatest ever master of collage art and assemblage. Kurt schwitters exhibition in mexico city of collages. Born in hanover, kurt schwitters studied at a local school of arts and crafts and then, from 1909 until 1914, at the royal academy of art in dresden. From the 1920s until his death, kurt schwitterss artistic career was guided by his endeavour to create a total work of art gesamtkunstwerk.
He is famous for his collages, called merz pictures. In 1919 kurt schwitters invented the concept of merz. Kurt schwitters was born in hanover, germany, and trained as an artist in dresden before moving back to hanover to start his career as a postimpressionist. Kurt schwitters 1887 1948 was one of the leaders of 20th century art. Schwitters made the proposal in 1942 when he was living in london, having moved to the city in 1941 after his release from a series of camps in which he was interned in scotland and england in 19401 after emigrating from germany. See available paintings, works on paper, and prints and multiples for sale and learn about the artist.