Live Auction 20651Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sale
KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)
Lot 474 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF ELLEN R. SUDDRETH, JULIE R. BAKER AND HENRY S. ROSENTHAL

KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)

Ohne Titel (Mit Stahlträgerkonstruktion)

Closed4 March 2022

Estimate

GBP 15,000–20,000

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KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)
Ohne Titel (Mit Stahlträgerkonstruktion)
signed with initials and dated 'KS 43' (lower left)
wood and printed paper collage on board laid down on card
6 1⁄8 x 4 3⁄4 in. (15.5 x 11.7 cm.)
Executed in 1943

Ernst Schwitters, the artist's son, Lysaker.
The Lord's Gallery, London, on commission from the above, in 1958.
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner in 1961.

Specialist note

Ultimately, in a Merzbild, Schwitters explained, the 'material matters as little as I do myself. What matters is forming it. Since the material does not matter, I take whatever material I like, if the picture requires it. Because I balance different kinds of material against one another, I have an advantage over oil painting, for in addition to evaluating color against color, line against line, form against form, and so on, I also evaluate material against material—wood as opposed to burlap, for example…' (‘Merz,’ Der Ararat, 1921, quoted in R. Motherwell, The Dada Painters and Poets, London, 1989, pp. 55-65). Merz, in this way, comes to stand ultimately for “freedom from all fetters, for the sake of artistic creation. Freedom is not lack of restraint, but the product of strict artistic discipline” (Kurt Schwitters quoted in W. Schmalenbach, Kurt Schwitters, Cologne, 1967, p. 78).