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Copyright estate of the artist | | | Schwitters, Kurt (1887 - 1948) Germany
Rudol 333, 1939
Pencil and collage on wrapping paper; 41.5 x 32.5 cm Dada
UID 102-521
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Biography
German painter, sculptor, designer and writer. He studied at the Kunstakademie in Dresden between 1909 and 1914. His early painting was naturalistic and, later, impressionist until he came into contact with Expressionism, particularly that linked to the Der Sturm movement. He painted mysterious and apocalyptic landscapes as well as writing Expressionist poetry for the magazine, Der Sturm. In Berlin, after meeting Hans Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Hach and Richard Huelsenbeck, he became involved with the Dada movement and started producing collages which he called Merzbilder (which could be translated as "constructions"). Thereafter the term merz became the name for his particular movement and philosophy. Despite his work being full of allusions to the political and cultural conditions of the time, he was never satirical nor controversial. Between 1922 and 1930, he worked with and befriended El Lissitzky and Theo van Doesburg. His magazine, Merz, published irregularly between 1923 and 1932, gave considerable attention to the ideas and art of Constructivism. In 1924, he established his own advertising and design agency in Hanover, where he promoted new typographical forms. His most important project realised between the two World Wars was Merzbau, a vast sculptural construction that took up most of the artist's house and studio. Around 1930, he worked with the Parisian magazine Cercle et Carré and joined the group, Abstraction-Création. In 1937, he took part in the exhibition Entartete Kunst and constructed a second Merzbau in Lysaker. Between 1940 and 1941, he was a prisoner on the Isle of Man and, in 1945, moved to Little Langdale, where he concentrated largely on portrait painting to earn his living. He produced some collages based on the imagery of American magazines that, to some extent, anticipated Pop Art and broadened the Dada collage tradition.
Exhibitions
Erich Kahn - Forgotten Generation Jewish Survivor German Expressionist Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal 05-05-2005 ~ 09-10-2005
Colecção Berardo Collection 1917-1999 Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), Portugal 27-01-2000 ~ 27-08-2000
Territórios Singulares na Colecção Berardo Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal 22-10-2002 ~ 28-02-2003
Liberdade de Imprensa Colecção Berardo Galeria Diário de Noticias, Portugal 15-03-2006 ~ 05-05-2006
Fernando Lemos and Surrealism - The Berardo Collection Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal 26-11-2005 ~ 18-06-2006
Fernando Lemos e o Surrealismo - Colecção Berardo Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas, Calheta, Madeira, Portugal 08-07-2006 ~ 31-01-2007
Desenho de Escritores Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal 01-09-2008 ~ 01-11-2008
Tudo o que é Sólido Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal 07-06-2010 ~ 12-09-2010
Observers Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal 14-02-2011 ~ 29-05-2011
Bibliography
Colecção Berardo Collection 1917-1999, 2000 Published by CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém ISBN 972817652X
Colecção Berardo, Novas Aquisições, 2000 Published by Arte Ibérica
Erich Kahn - Forgotten Generation Jewish Survivor German Expressionist , 2005 Published by Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo ISBN 9729903018
Fernando Lemos e o Surrealismo – Colecção Berardo, 2006 Published by Centro das Artes - Casa das Mudas ISBN 9728902034
Liberdade de Imprensa Colecção Berardo, 2006 Published by Diário de Notícias ISBN 9729335923
Territórios Singulares na Colecção Berardo, 2002 Published by Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo ISBN 972974288X
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