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Lot Essay
für Doesburg is a pure, minimalistic Merzbild collage made by Kurt Schwitters in 1929 and dedicated to his friend and colleague Theo van Doesburg. Comprising of only a few simple geometric shapes composed into an elegant and dynamic construction, it is a fusion of Schwitters' 'Merz-collage' principles with the 'Elementarist' principles that he and Van Doesburg together championed throughout much of the 1920s. Symptomatic of this increasing tendency towards constructivist principles in the creation of Merz-pictures, sculpture and architecture throughout the decade, it is also therefore, an appropriate gift for the Dutch artist.
Schwitters had first met Van Doesburg in April 1921 in Weimar. Van Doesburg was, at the time, participating in the Dadaist movement by writing and performing nonsensical poetry under the pseudonym I.K. Bonset. They subsequently became good friends and would, over the next few years, collaborate on a number of projects that had particular importance for the so-called Dada-Constructivist alliance that many avant-garde artists in the early 1920s were seeking to establish as the basis for the creation of a new 'Elemental' art. Schwitters' collaborations with Van Doesburg, and later with the Russian El Lissitzky, form much of the core of this important but short-lived attempt to join two of the most important artistic aesthetics of the age into a cohesive and revolutionary basis for change.
It was Schwitters' edition of his magazine 'Merz', that he edited with Lissitzky in 1924 and gave the name NASCI, which first laid the foundations for the establishment of an International 'Elementarist' art. In accordance with these aims, Schwitters' partnership with
Van Doesburg continued periodically into the late 1920s, with perhaps their most significant collaboration coming in the field of design, with the creation of a new 'Elementarist' style of typography. für Doesburg is, then, a fascinating testament to the important friendship of these two great artists.
Schwitters had first met Van Doesburg in April 1921 in Weimar. Van Doesburg was, at the time, participating in the Dadaist movement by writing and performing nonsensical poetry under the pseudonym I.K. Bonset. They subsequently became good friends and would, over the next few years, collaborate on a number of projects that had particular importance for the so-called Dada-Constructivist alliance that many avant-garde artists in the early 1920s were seeking to establish as the basis for the creation of a new 'Elemental' art. Schwitters' collaborations with Van Doesburg, and later with the Russian El Lissitzky, form much of the core of this important but short-lived attempt to join two of the most important artistic aesthetics of the age into a cohesive and revolutionary basis for change.
It was Schwitters' edition of his magazine 'Merz', that he edited with Lissitzky in 1924 and gave the name NASCI, which first laid the foundations for the establishment of an International 'Elementarist' art. In accordance with these aims, Schwitters' partnership with
Van Doesburg continued periodically into the late 1920s, with perhaps their most significant collaboration coming in the field of design, with the creation of a new 'Elementarist' style of typography. für Doesburg is, then, a fascinating testament to the important friendship of these two great artists.