Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German painter, who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters participated in the Dada movement during and after World War I. His particular contribution to that group was his Merz works, art pieces built up of found objects into large constructions or even what would later in the 20th century have been called 'installations'. The Sprengel Museum in Hanover has a reconstruction of the most famous of these installations called 'Merzbau' which was a redesign of Schwitters own appartement in Hanover. The Merzbau was destroyed in WW II.
He composed and performed an early example of sound poetry, Ursonate (1922-32; the transliteration of the title is "Primordial Sonata"). His recording of this was later sampled by Brian Eno for "Kurt's rejoiner" on his album Before and After Science (1977).
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 Listen to a short extract from the Ursonate. (160kb; )
'Merz' - according to Schwitters was part of the name of the Commerzbank.
In 1937 he was included in the Nazi exhibition of 'degenerate art' (Entartete Kunst) at Munich. He died in Kendal, England, and was buried in Ambleside.
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Referenced By
20 June | 20th June | An Anna Blume | Before and After Science | Dada | Dadaism | Dadaist | Documenta 1 | El Lissitzky | June 20 | June 20th | List of Dadaists | List of modern artists | List of painters | List of people by name: Sc | List of people by name: Sc-Sd | Maggie O'Sullivan | Masami Akita | Merzbow | Modern Art | Painters | Sound poetry | Stefan Wolpe | Theo van Doesberg | Theo van Doesburg
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