Kurt Schwitters
(Hannover 1887 – 1948 Kendal, UK)
Merzzeichnung, 1930, signed, dated and inscribed “Kurt Schwitters 1930 / Mz 30,41” on the backing board, collage, pencil, fabric and paper laid on thin cardboard, collage: 13.2 x 9.5 cm, cardboard: 25 x 16 cm, framed
Provenance:
Ernst Schwitters, Lysaker, 1948–1957 (inherited from the artist)
Charlotte Weidler, New York, 1957
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1957–1999 (label on the reverse)
Carroll Janis, New York (from 1999)
Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg (label on the reverse)
European Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2006)
Exhibited:
New York, 75 Collages by Kurt Schwitters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 2 February – 7 March 1959, exh. cat. ill. no. 45
New York, 50 Collages by Schwitters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 2 April – 5 May 1962
New York, Old Masters in XXth Century European Art, Sidney Janis Gallery New Work, 8 February – 5 March 1966
New York, XXth Century European Art, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 6 December 1972 – 6 January 1973
London, Collages and Reliefs 1910–1945 and Hiller-Heliographs, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, 30 June – 2 October 1982, exh. cat. ill. no. 59 (labels on the reverse)
New York, 20th Century Masters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 9 November – 21 December 1997
New York, 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Selection from Last Decades, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 18 April – 13 May 1998
Literature:
H. Cantz, Kurt Schwitters, Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, 1923–1936, Hannover 2003, p. 334, no. 1704, with ill.
Kurt Schwitters’ Merz drawings are created from fragments of everyday life: newspaper advertisements, tickets, receipts, or scraps of fabric are assembled into abstract collages. The term “Merz” dates back to an early collage from 1919, in which Schwitters used a fragment of the word “Kommerz” (commerce) taken from an advertisement of the Kommerz- und Privatbank. From this accidentally isolated word fragment, he developed the programmatic term “Merz,” which from then on described his artistic method: the equal value of all materials and their free combination within the pictorial space.
“I called it Merz, though it was my prayer for a victorious end to the war, for once again peace had prevailed. Everything was broken anyway, and the task was to build something new from the shards. That is Merz.”
From the remnants of the modern metropolis, Schwitters shapes a new pictorial reality in which fragments of a world marked by war come together in poetic compositions. The artistic act thus becomes a process of reconstruction: the fragments lose their original functional value and gain a new aesthetic significance.
“Merz means creating relationships, preferably between all things in the world.”
Kurt Schwitters
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
(Hannover 1887 – 1948 Kendal, UK)
Merzzeichnung, 1930, signed, dated and inscribed “Kurt Schwitters 1930 / Mz 30,41” on the backing board, collage, pencil, fabric and paper laid on thin cardboard, collage: 13.2 x 9.5 cm, cardboard: 25 x 16 cm, framed
Provenance:
Ernst Schwitters, Lysaker, 1948–1957 (inherited from the artist)
Charlotte Weidler, New York, 1957
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1957–1999 (label on the reverse)
Carroll Janis, New York (from 1999)
Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg (label on the reverse)
European Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2006)
Exhibited:
New York, 75 Collages by Kurt Schwitters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 2 February – 7 March 1959, exh. cat. ill. no. 45
New York, 50 Collages by Schwitters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 2 April – 5 May 1962
New York, Old Masters in XXth Century European Art, Sidney Janis Gallery New Work, 8 February – 5 March 1966
New York, XXth Century European Art, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 6 December 1972 – 6 January 1973
London, Collages and Reliefs 1910–1945 and Hiller-Heliographs, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, 30 June – 2 October 1982, exh. cat. ill. no. 59 (labels on the reverse)
New York, 20th Century Masters, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 9 November – 21 December 1997
New York, 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Selection from Last Decades, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 18 April – 13 May 1998
Literature:
H. Cantz, Kurt Schwitters, Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, 1923–1936, Hannover 2003, p. 334, no. 1704, with ill.
Kurt Schwitters’ Merz drawings are created from fragments of everyday life: newspaper advertisements, tickets, receipts, or scraps of fabric are assembled into abstract collages. The term “Merz” dates back to an early collage from 1919, in which Schwitters used a fragment of the word “Kommerz” (commerce) taken from an advertisement of the Kommerz- und Privatbank. From this accidentally isolated word fragment, he developed the programmatic term “Merz,” which from then on described his artistic method: the equal value of all materials and their free combination within the pictorial space.
“I called it Merz, though it was my prayer for a victorious end to the war, for once again peace had prevailed. Everything was broken anyway, and the task was to build something new from the shards. That is Merz.”
From the remnants of the modern metropolis, Schwitters shapes a new pictorial reality in which fragments of a world marked by war come together in poetic compositions. The artistic act thus becomes a process of reconstruction: the fragments lose their original functional value and gain a new aesthetic significance.
“Merz means creating relationships, preferably between all things in the world.”
Kurt Schwitters
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
