MA-g
The Museum of Avant-garde

Kurt Schwitters

Germany (1887—1948)

Born to a middle class family in Hanover, Schwitters suffered from epilepsy from early age but despite his condition he was enlisted in military service during WWI. He was employed as techinical draftsman in a factory: this opportunity started his fascination with machinery. In 1918 he got exposed to the Berlin avant-garde and international Dada movement and started finding his own expression transforming street rubbish into art. He collaborated with Hausmann and created his poems, the Ursonate. In 1923 he published the Dada Merz magazine and became close friend of van Doesburg and El Lizzitsky. In 1932 he joined the Abstraction-Création group. In 1937 he left for Norway to escape the imminent war and started a second Merzbau. 1940 he moved to the Isle of Man and from there to London. While the war was coming to its conclusion he suffered a stroke. He attempted a third series of Merzbau in the UK, but died before its completion.

El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / Raoul Hausmann / Theo Van Doesburg

El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / Kurt Schwitters

Merz 8-9

Nasci / Magazine / Letterpress / 23.4 x 30.2 cm / Hannover, 1924 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Richard Hülsenbeck / Marcel Janco / Hans Richter / Sophie Taeuber-Arp / Christian Schad / Jean Arp / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara

Der Zeltweg

Magazine / Letterpress / 31 x 21 cm / Paris, 1919

Ljubomir Micić / Jozef Peeters / Michel Seuphor / Philippe Soupault / Émile Malespine / Vicente Huidobro / Jean Arp / Lajos Kassák / László Moholy-Nagy / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara / Piet Mondriaan

Manomètre

Mélange des langues, enregistre les idées, indique la pression sur tous les méridiens, est polyglotte et supranational / Magazine / 17.5 x 22.5 cm / Lyon, 1922-1928

Kurt Schwitters

Plate 4

From Merz 3 / Original lithograph / 43.8 x 53 cm / 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Max Ernst / Kurt Schwitters

La loterie du jardin zoologique

Illustrated book / 12.7 x 16.3 cm / Paris, 1951

Kurt Schwitters

Die billige gute Wohnung

Envelope / 21 x 29.7 cm / Berlin, 1930

Hannah Höch / Edmund Collein / Walter Dexel / Jean Arp / El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara

Merz 7

Tapsheft / Magazine / Letterpress / 23.6 x 31.3 cm / Hannover, 1924 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Merz 20

Kurt Schwitters Katalog / Booklet / Letterpress / 15.9 x 24.5 cm / Hannover, 1927 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kate Steinitz / Kurt Schwitters / Theo Van Doesburg

Merz 14-15

Die Scheuche: Märchen / Illustrated book / Letterpress / 24 x 20.4 cm / Hannover, 1925 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Jan Tschichold / Kurt Schwitters

Merz 24

Ursonate / Booklet / Letterpress / 14.2 x 20.6 cm / Hannover, 1932 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Plate 6

From Merz 3 / Original lithograph / 43.8 x 55.5 cm / 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Walter Gropius / Kurt Schwitters

Dammerstock

Catalogue / 29.7 x 21 cm / Karlsruhe, 1929

Kurt Schwitters

Merz 18/19

Neue Architektur I, Ludwig Hilberseimer / Illustrated book / 14 x 25 cm / Hannover, 1925 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Celler Volks-Möbel

Envelope / 21 x 29.7 cm / Berlin, 1930

Kurt Schwitters

Sturm Bilderbücher IV

Illustrated book / 22.3 x 28.7 cm / Berlin, 1920

Hannah Höch / Vilmos Huszár / Jean Arp / El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara / Theo Van Doesburg / Piet Mondriaan

Merz 6

Imitatoren watch step! / Magazine / Letterpress / 14.3 x 22.3 cm / Hannover, 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Wyndham Lewis / Umberto Boccioni / Georges Vantongerloo / Jean Crotti / Jean Arp / Paul Éluard / Max Ernst / Raoul Hausmann / Filippo Tommaso Marinetti / László Moholy-Nagy / Francis Picabia / Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara / Theo Van Doesburg / Piet Mondriaan

Mécano

Magazine / Letterpress / Various sizes / Leiden, 1922-1924

Kurt Schwitters

Die Kathedrale

Die Silbergäule, vol. 41/42 / Illustrated book / 8 original lithographs / 14.2 x 22.2 cm / Hannover, 1920 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Henryk Berlewi / Wladyslaw Strzeminski / Teresa Żarnowerówna / Ludwig Mies van der Rohe / Katarzyna Kobro / Henryk Stażewski / Mieczysław Szczuka / Kazimir Maljevič / Filippo Tommaso Marinetti / Kurt Schwitters / Theo Van Doesburg

Blok

Czasopismo awangardy artystyczne / Magazine / Letterpress / 46 x 61 cm / Warsaw, 1924-1926

Jean Arp / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara / Theo Van Doesburg

Merz 2

Nummer i / Magazine / Letterpress / 14.4 x 22.2 cm / Hannover, 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

De Branding

Exhibition catalogue / Letterpress / 21 x 29.7 cm / Rotterdam, 1922

Gerrit Rietveld / Émile Malespine / Otto Nebel / Jean Arp / Raoul Hausmann / László Moholy-Nagy / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara / Theo Van Doesburg

Merz 4

Banalitäten / Magazine / Letterpress / 14.4 x 22.9 cm / Hannover, 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Plate 3

From Merz 3 / Original lithograph / 44.4 x 55.5 cm / 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Merz 21

Erstes Veilchenheft / Booklet / Letterpress / 31.7 x 21.1 cm / Hannover, 1931 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kate Steinitz / Kurt Schwitters / Theo Van Doesburg

Merz 11

Typoreklame / Booklet / Letterpress / 21.9 x 28.8 cm / Hannover, 1924 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Dragan Aleksić / Mihajlo Petrov / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara

Dada Tank

Journal / Letterpress / 23.4 x 31.3 cm / Zagreb, 1922

Willi Baumeister / Enrico Prampolini / Michel Seuphor / Gino Severini / Joaquín Torres García / Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman / César Domela / Vilmos Huszár / Georges Vantongerloo / Henryk Stażewski / Jean Arp / Wassily Kandinsky / Fernand Léger / Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) / Pablo Picasso / Kurt Schwitters / Piet Mondriaan

Cercle et carré

Magazine / Offset / 23.8 x 32.2 cm / Paris, 1930

Paul Joostens / Jean Arp / Max Ernst / René Magritte / Francis Picabia / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara

Œsophage

Magazine / Letterpress / 22.4 x 28.4 cm / Bruxelles, 1925

Kate Steinitz / Kurt Schwitters

Merz 16-17

Die Märchen vom Paradies / Illustrated book / 20.8 x 26.8 cm / Hannover, 1924 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Abstraction création art non figuratif

Magazine / Letterpress / 21.2 x 27.8 cm / Paris, 1932-1936

Raoul Hausmann / Kurt Schwitters

PIN and the story of PIN

Illustrated book / 17.2 x 23.6 cm / London, 1962

Kurt Schwitters

Die neue Gestaltung in der Typographie

Booklet / 10.5 x 14.7 cm / Hannover, 1930 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters

Sekunde durch Hirn

By Melchior Vischer / Book cover / 13.6 x 20.7 cm / Hannover, 1920

Kurt Schwitters

Merz-Werbe Drucksache

Envelope / 16.3 x 11.5 cm / Hannover, 1925 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Ljubomir Micić / Branko Ve Poljanski / Kurt Schwitters / Tristan Tzara

Tank

Revue internationale de l'art vivant / Magazine / Letterpress / 16.8 x 24.7 cm / Ljubljana, 1927-1928

Willi Baumeister / Naum Gabo / Lucia Moholy / Gerrit Rietveld / Paul Schuitema / Albert Renger-Patzsch / Max Burchartz / Martin Munkácsi / Vilmos Huszár / Georges Vantongerloo / Jean Arp / Wassily Kandinsky / Lajos Kassák / El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / Kazimir Maljevič / László Moholy-Nagy / Kurt Schwitters / Piet Mondriaan

i10

Internationale revue / Magazine / Letterpress / 21 x 30 cm / Amsterdam, 1927-1929

Kurt Schwitters / Theo Van Doesburg

Dada Matinée

Original lithograph / 85 x 82 cm / 1923

Guillaume Apollinaire / Sándor Bortnyik / Jean Cocteau / Philippe Soupault / Béla Uitz / Jean Arp / Paul Éluard / Lajos Kassák / El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / László Moholy-Nagy / Francis Picabia / Kurt Schwitters

MA 2

Magazine / Silkscreen print / 29.9 x 30.7 cm / Budapest / Vienne, 1916-1925

Kurt Schwitters

Memoiren Anna Blumes in Bleie

Illustrated book / 11 x 18 cm / Freiburg, 1922

Hannah Höch / Vilmos Huszár / Francis Picabia / Kurt Schwitters / Theo Van Doesburg

Merz 1

Holland Dada / Magazine / Letterpress / 14.3 x 21.9 cm / Hannover, 1923 / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn