Lot 474

474

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This lot has been imported from outside of the UK … Read more

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF ELLEN R. SUDDRETH, JULIE R. BAKER AND HENRY S. ROSENTHAL

KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)

Ohne Titel (Mit Stahlträgerkonstruktion)

Details

KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)
Ohne Titel (Mit Stahlträgerkonstruktion)
signed with initials and dated 'KS 43' (lower left)
wood and printed paper collage on board laid down on card
6 1⁄8 x 4 3⁄4 in. (15.5 x 11.7 cm.)
Executed in 1943

Provenance

Ernst Schwitters, the artist's son, Lysaker.
The Lord's Gallery, London, on commission from the above, in 1958.
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner in 1961.

Literature

K. Orchard & I. Schulz, eds., Kurt Schwitters, catalogue raisonné, vol. III, 1937-1948, Ostfildern, 2006, no. 3041, p. 421 (illustrated).

Exhibited

London, The Lord's Gallery, Kurt Schwitters, October - November 1958, no. 53 (titled 'Girders').
Cambridge, The Arts Council, Kurt Schwitters, November - December 1959, no. 79; this exhibition later travelled to Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry, Herbert Temporary Art Gallery and Glasgow University Print Room.

Special Notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Micol Flocchini Head of Day Sale

mflocchini@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2262

Lot Essay

Ultimately, in a Merzbild, Schwitters explained, the 'material matters as little as I do myself. What matters is forming it. Since the material does not matter, I take whatever material I like, if the picture requires it. Because I balance different kinds of material against one another, I have an advantage over oil painting, for in addition to evaluating color against color, line against line, form against form, and so on, I also evaluate material against material—wood as opposed to burlap, for example…' (‘Merz,’ Der Ararat, 1921, quoted in R. Motherwell, The Dada Painters and Poets, London, 1989, pp. 55-65). Merz, in this way, comes to stand ultimately for “freedom from all fetters, for the sake of artistic creation. Freedom is not lack of restraint, but the product of strict artistic discipline” (Kurt Schwitters quoted in W. Schmalenbach, Kurt Schwitters, Cologne, 1967, p. 78).

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