Kurt Schwitters
In 1917 the 30 year-old artist was drafted into military service, which he spent in the orderly room, due to his suffering from epilepsy. He was discharged after four months. The impressions of the war and the inflation made him a modern artist, who even left Expressionism behind; his first collages emerged in 1918, for which Kurt Schwitters used litter found by chance.
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| Cover of Anna Blume 1919 |
His art and literary texts became a Dadaist institution in Hanover, which he called "Merz", a fragment of the word "Commerzbank". "Anna Blume", a collection of poems and prosaic texts published in 1919, made him famous far beyond Hanover's boundaries. He got in contact with Herwarth Walden, Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara and took part in the "Sturm"-exhibitions in New York and Zurich.
From 1923 on he worked as a commercial artist, graphic designer and typographer for several companies from Hanover and beyond. Apart from this professional work, he continued the collages and material pictures of the "Merz"-series.
In the mid-30's he was successful on an international level for the first time; in 1937 he emigrated to Norway. His exile in Norway was followed by his escape from the German troops to England.
In 1941 he became involved with the London art scene and his work began to engage with British society and culture, shaped by the use of new source materials for his collages and poems.
His work began to be shaped by the material culture of the wartime city. The fragments of paper and found objects that he collected from London’s streets were incorporated into his collages and assemblages. As his work was made from discarded everyday items, it reflected the environment in which it was made. The materials he used included sweet wrappers, bus tickets, metal toys, pieces of linoleum and a scrubbing brush.
This form of recycling materials into art is something that captures my interest. I think where possible it is kind to the environment to use and re-use naterials again and again. It's also more inspiring for me to deal with less prescious "scraps" rather than clean paper.
Schwitters also explored the transformation of ready-made images, using photographic reproductions of nineteenth-century paintings as a starting point for collages. He was fascinated by English words and typography, and incorporated fragmentary phrases which make references to contemporary popular culture and politics, and also seems to comment on the process of adapting to making his work in a new environment. Words, as disscussed previously are a massive influenece of mine, to take this forward I would like to find some poetry with the of sealife and/or mermaids.
For Kate- 1947
Kurt Schwitters died in 1948. It is only after his death that his life's work is appreciated internationally. Schwitters was far ahead of his time and strongly influenced the art of assemblage of the neo-dadaist artists.
Das Undbild - 1919
Photos combined with text and textured papers.
1923- Aphorism
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/schwitters-britain/
http://www.schwitters-kurt.com/
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