Lot Essay
I called my new manner of working from the principle of using any material MERZ. That is the second syllable of Kommerz [commerce]. It originated from the Merzbild [Merzpicture], a picture in which the word MERZ, cut-out and glued-on from an advertisement for the KOMMERZ UND PRIVATBANK [Commercial and Private Bank], could be read in between abstract forms. The word MERZ had become a part of the picture by being attuned with the other parts, so it had to stay there. (Kurt Schwitters, c.f. Kurt Schwitters, John Elderfield; New York: Thames & Hudson, 1985, pp. 12-13.)
El Lissitzky, the Russian Constructivist, lived in Germany from 1921 until 1925, working and informing the leading artists of the Bauhaus, De Stijl and dada of Constructivist ideals. He met Schwitters, the Hannover dadaist and assemblage artist in 1922, resulting in a friendship and camraderie based on mutual beliefs, financial support and collaboration. Schwitters invited Lissitzky to coedit an issue of his magazine, Merz. This project had a profound effect on Schwitters. With Merz 8-9 (April-July 1924), coedited with Lissitzky and entitled "Nasci" ("Being Born" or "Becoming"), Schwitters moved very firmly into the Constructivist camp. Both the tone and the appearance of the magazine are new. In appearance, it is a manifesto for the New Typography; in content, a testament to Schwitter's new ideals, and as such it drew praise from (Theo) Van Doesburg, Moholy-Nagy and Gropius among others. It represents, moreover, the clearest exposition of Schwitters' own interpretation of the Constructivist esthetic, for through contact with Lissitzky's ideas, Schwitters was able to find a version of this esthetic which corroborated his existing pre-Contructivist ideas about art and its formal autonomy but spiritual and primitive base. This may be described as a constructive vision of nature. (op. cit., p. 133). Certainly, the elements comprising this photomontage portrait of Schwitters, especially the placement of a parrot in Schwitter's mouth, refers to not only nature but the German's role as a spokesperson for dada.
It is believed that this lot is one of two extant prints.
El Lissitzky, the Russian Constructivist, lived in Germany from 1921 until 1925, working and informing the leading artists of the Bauhaus, De Stijl and dada of Constructivist ideals. He met Schwitters, the Hannover dadaist and assemblage artist in 1922, resulting in a friendship and camraderie based on mutual beliefs, financial support and collaboration. Schwitters invited Lissitzky to coedit an issue of his magazine, Merz. This project had a profound effect on Schwitters. With Merz 8-9 (April-July 1924), coedited with Lissitzky and entitled "Nasci" ("Being Born" or "Becoming"), Schwitters moved very firmly into the Constructivist camp. Both the tone and the appearance of the magazine are new. In appearance, it is a manifesto for the New Typography; in content, a testament to Schwitter's new ideals, and as such it drew praise from (Theo) Van Doesburg, Moholy-Nagy and Gropius among others. It represents, moreover, the clearest exposition of Schwitters' own interpretation of the Constructivist esthetic, for through contact with Lissitzky's ideas, Schwitters was able to find a version of this esthetic which corroborated his existing pre-Contructivist ideas about art and its formal autonomy but spiritual and primitive base. This may be described as a constructive vision of nature. (op. cit., p. 133). Certainly, the elements comprising this photomontage portrait of Schwitters, especially the placement of a parrot in Schwitter's mouth, refers to not only nature but the German's role as a spokesperson for dada.
It is believed that this lot is one of two extant prints.