Merz 3 Portfolio: Plate 1
1923
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1923
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a patchwork of torn paper, old ticket stubs, scraps of newspaper, and rough brushstrokes stuck to a flat surface. The colors are dull—brown, gray, and faded white—with no clear picture or face. This is not a painting in the usual sense. Kurt Schwitters made this in 1923 as part of a personal art experiment he called "Merz." He used trash and paper bits from the street, turning the junk of daily life in Germany into art. His work grew from Dada, a reaction to the chaos and war. He built something new from broken things. Look next at the artist: Kurt Schwitters (German, 1887–1948). (Word count: 102)
