Merz (art style)

Merz (art style) is a synonym for the more common expression and term Dada,[1] and traces back to Kurt Schwitters.[2]

MERZ artist Kurt Schwitters

Origin

Merz was conceptualized by Kurt Schwitters, who planned a Dada section in Hanover. However, upon being denied an invitation to the First International Dada Fair in Berlin in 1920, Schwitters wished to establish a subsect of the Dada movement that was tailored to his own artistic philosophies and visions. In his own words, he wished to find a "totally unique hat fitting only a single head"— his own.[3][4]

Etymology

The name Merz was generated by chance through a collage that incorporated the German word Kommerz (commerce). The resulting word, which was nonsensical and spontaneously generated, was similar in origin and philosophy to the title of Dada. Merz became Schwitters 's synonym for his own approach to Dada.[5]

Characteristics

Like Dada, Merz was characterized by spontaneity and frequently made use of found objects. One of the most significant Merz artifacts constructed by Schwitters is the Merzbau, a tower-sized sculpture assembled from refuse and ephemera that occupied the inside of his apartment and existed from 1927 to 1943, when it was destroyed by a British air raid during World War II. [6]

Reception

Kurt Schwitters, a pioneer in fusing collage and abstraction— influenced Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, the Fluxus movement and Joseph Beuys, too.[7]

See also

References
  1. Cf. Richard Huelsenbeck (Ed.): Dada Almanach. New York, Something Else Press, 1966 (reprint of the 1920-edition).
  2. Cf. Ernst Nündel: Kurt Schwitters in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlts Monograph 296, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981. ISBN 3499502968
  3. Ernst Nündel: Kurt Schwitters in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlts Monographien 296, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981, p. 19 f. ISBN 3499502968
  4. (Original German quote translated by Arguseyed2200).
  5. Cf. Kurt Schwitters, 1887-1948: Urwerk, Edited by Robert Galitz/Kurt Kreiler/Klaus Gabbert. Frankfurt am Main/Berlin 1986. ISBN 3-549-06667-8. New Edition: Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2007. ISBN 9783861506744
  6. Orchard, Karin. "Kurt Schwitters: Reconstructions of the Merzbau – Tate Papers". Tate. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  7. Cf. Kurt Schwitters — Space, Image, Exile by Megan R. Luke. 352 p., 22 color plates, 98 halftones. University of Chicago, 2014.
  • See, for example, about Merz Picture 32 A, 1921
  • See about his last of all works, the Merzbarn Wall
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