Little Dance
1920
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist.
See the richer artist page1920
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Little Dance is a 1920 by Kurt Schwitters, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see torn paper scraps—tickets, newsprint, maybe old labels—glued to a board in loose, overlapping layers. Some edges curl; others lie flat. A few red bits pop against the gray and beige. Schwitters called this kind of work “Merz.” He collected trash from the streets of Hanover and turned it into art. The scraps aren’t random; they feel like they’re moving, almost dancing. Look up other collages by Kurt Schwitters (German, 1887–1948).
With collages of densely interwoven scraps of paper gleaned from daily life, Schwitters produced dynamic compositions in which the interaction of the materials becomes a kind of dance. Notice here the way the color red "dances" among the subdued tones of white, gray, and ochre.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist.
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