Lot Essay
In 1919 Schwitters published a collection of poems and prose pieces entitled Anna Blume. The book made Schwitters well known in avante-garde circles everywhere. In particular the poem Anne Blume, beginning with the words, "o du, geliebte meiner siebundzwansig Sinne, ichebe dir!-Du deiner dich dir, ich dir, du mir./-Wir?" was soon on everybody's lips. The present collage is made on the cover of the second and enlarged edition of Anna Blume published in Leipzig in 1922.
From the fall of 1922 to the spring of 1923, Kurt Schwitters stayed in the Netherlands for more than six months. This period became known as the Dada Feldzug in Holland. It was in fact a lecture tour in a number of Dutch cities that Schwitters undertook with Theo and Petro (Nelly) van Doesburg and Vilmos Huszár. Schwitters met van Doesburg in 1922 and their friendship lasted until van Doesburg's death in 1931.
In 1917 van Doesburg and Mondriaan founded the De Stijl magazine which became one of the most influential art publications of the 20th Century. Schwitters had little in common with Mondriaan's "absolutist" art and had only cursory contact with him, but he found van Doesburg's wide-ranging mind akin to his own. On their joint tour of the Netherlands, Schwitters appeared in various capacities, van Doesburg gave lectures, Nelly van Doesburg played modern piano compositions and Huszár exhibited a mechanical doll. The spirit of Dada prevailed on the tour.
More than twenty years later Schwitters reminisced: "Only Nelly, Theo van Doesburg, Huszár and myself went to Holland. We started at The Hague. Van Doesburg read a very good Dada program in which he said that the Dadaists would do something unexpected. Just then I stood up in the audience and barked loudly. A few people fainted and were carried out, and the newspapers reported what 'Dada' means is 'bark'. - We immediately obtained engagements in Haarlem and Amsterdam. We were sold out in Haarlem, and I walked across the hall so everyone could see me, and everyone was waiting for me to bark. Again, Van Doesburg said I was going to do something unexpected. This time I blew my nose.- In Amsterdam there were such crowds that people paid fantastic sums to get a seat. I did not bark, nor did I blow my nose, I recited "Revolution". "A lady could not stop laughing and had to be carried out...It was as if the dadaistic spririt went over to hundreds of people who remarked suddenly that they were human beings."
An unknown moment in Kurt Schwitters' exchange with Dutch artists is documented by this richly collaged volume of Anna Blume. In May 1924 Schwitters did a reading from his work in the village of Blaricum. Blaricum was a picturesque village where many artists lived, amongst others Bart van der Leck, who had been a member of De Stijl. It may have been through van der Leck that Schwitters was introduced to Piet Elling, a young sculptor and architect who lived in the farm 'De Pol'. Elling had taken over this house from van der Leck with whom he had been a friend and artistic collaborator since 1920.
An innovative sculptor and architect, Elling followed the new international movements in the arts closely, as is evident from his library as well as in his early drawings and designs for furniture.
His enthusiasm for the avant-garde is particularly discernible from the interior of 'De Pol', which as early photographs show, was sparsely furnished with the famous buffet and chairs designed by his friend Rietveld, while oils by van der Leck hang on the walls. This interior must have been the setting for Schwitters' Dada reading, where we know amongst others van der Leck was present. It seems probable that he read from the Anna Blume, as he had also done in Drachten in 1923, an occasion which Evert Rinsema had described as 'masterly', and 'so splendid of style'. Schwitters must have used his own heavily collaged copy, which he presented afterwards to his host as a token of their friendship and avant-gardism.
From the fall of 1922 to the spring of 1923, Kurt Schwitters stayed in the Netherlands for more than six months. This period became known as the Dada Feldzug in Holland. It was in fact a lecture tour in a number of Dutch cities that Schwitters undertook with Theo and Petro (Nelly) van Doesburg and Vilmos Huszár. Schwitters met van Doesburg in 1922 and their friendship lasted until van Doesburg's death in 1931.
In 1917 van Doesburg and Mondriaan founded the De Stijl magazine which became one of the most influential art publications of the 20th Century. Schwitters had little in common with Mondriaan's "absolutist" art and had only cursory contact with him, but he found van Doesburg's wide-ranging mind akin to his own. On their joint tour of the Netherlands, Schwitters appeared in various capacities, van Doesburg gave lectures, Nelly van Doesburg played modern piano compositions and Huszár exhibited a mechanical doll. The spirit of Dada prevailed on the tour.
More than twenty years later Schwitters reminisced: "Only Nelly, Theo van Doesburg, Huszár and myself went to Holland. We started at The Hague. Van Doesburg read a very good Dada program in which he said that the Dadaists would do something unexpected. Just then I stood up in the audience and barked loudly. A few people fainted and were carried out, and the newspapers reported what 'Dada' means is 'bark'. - We immediately obtained engagements in Haarlem and Amsterdam. We were sold out in Haarlem, and I walked across the hall so everyone could see me, and everyone was waiting for me to bark. Again, Van Doesburg said I was going to do something unexpected. This time I blew my nose.- In Amsterdam there were such crowds that people paid fantastic sums to get a seat. I did not bark, nor did I blow my nose, I recited "Revolution". "A lady could not stop laughing and had to be carried out...It was as if the dadaistic spririt went over to hundreds of people who remarked suddenly that they were human beings."
An unknown moment in Kurt Schwitters' exchange with Dutch artists is documented by this richly collaged volume of Anna Blume. In May 1924 Schwitters did a reading from his work in the village of Blaricum. Blaricum was a picturesque village where many artists lived, amongst others Bart van der Leck, who had been a member of De Stijl. It may have been through van der Leck that Schwitters was introduced to Piet Elling, a young sculptor and architect who lived in the farm 'De Pol'. Elling had taken over this house from van der Leck with whom he had been a friend and artistic collaborator since 1920.
An innovative sculptor and architect, Elling followed the new international movements in the arts closely, as is evident from his library as well as in his early drawings and designs for furniture.
His enthusiasm for the avant-garde is particularly discernible from the interior of 'De Pol', which as early photographs show, was sparsely furnished with the famous buffet and chairs designed by his friend Rietveld, while oils by van der Leck hang on the walls. This interior must have been the setting for Schwitters' Dada reading, where we know amongst others van der Leck was present. It seems probable that he read from the Anna Blume, as he had also done in Drachten in 1923, an occasion which Evert Rinsema had described as 'masterly', and 'so splendid of style'. Schwitters must have used his own heavily collaged copy, which he presented afterwards to his host as a token of their friendship and avant-gardism.