MUSEUM RITTER - Kurt Schwitters

Unlike artists such as Pablo Picasso or Hans Arp, who only occupied themselves for a short while with collages, Kurt Schwitters devoted himself to this technique his whole life long. It was the basis of his creative output, for he constantly employed the collage to transform garbage and objets trouvés into any number of widely varying artworks. By this means he expanded the concept of composition, which for him did not merely include colour, line, and form, but also the tactile aspect of the materials. With this idea of “Merz” art – the term was taken from the name of the Com[merz]bank which he found in an ad he used for an assemblage – from 1919 on he developed an art current in the provincial capital of Hanover that ran parallel to the Dada movement in Berlin and Zurich, which likewise questioned the way art had regarded up till then. Initially his Merz concept was applied solely to his artistic output, but soon he was to expand the idea – which essentially was based on the use of old materials and an openness in the arrangement – to include his wide range of activities as a sculptor, draughtsman, architect and typographer.


1887		born in Hannover
1908–15		Studies at Hanover and Dresden
1917		Turns to Expressionism and abstraction
1919		Comes up with the term "Merz" for his art
1923		Embarks on his "Merzbau" in Hanover
1927		Founding of the group "die abstrakten hannover"
1935		Works of his art exhibited in the “Degenerate Art“ exhibition
1937		Emigrates to Norway; new "Merzbau" in Lysaker (N)
1940		Emigrates to Britain
1943		Destruction of the "Merzbau" during the bombing of Hanover
1947		New "Merzbau"(Merz Barn) near Elterwater, Lake District
1948		Takes on British citizenship
1948		died in Kendal (GB)