Schwitters in Britain exhibition at Tate Britain

Untitled (With an Early Portrait of Kurt Schwitters), 1937-8

Yesterday I visited Tate Britain to see the Schwitters Exhibition.  I first became interested in Schwitters' typography, but then was intrigued to discover that he was credited as being a pioneer of the Pop Art movement.

EN MORN 1947

It is easy to see Schwitters' influences on the works of Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi.



 

Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So                      Bunk 1972

Appealing? Richard Hamilton   1956                                                   Eduardo Paolozzi

The exhibition was organised in chronological order - born in Hanover but forced to flee to Norway when Nazis condemned his work as degenerative, then escaping to England where he was interned on the Isle of Man as an 'enemy alien', a short spell in London and finally to Ambleside in the Lake district.  His work includes figurative and representational work, recitals, reliefs, assemblages and, most famously and most prolific, collages.  He uses a made-up word - Merz - it describes his view that everything - textile, sweet wrappers, wood, paint, junk - has equal value in art.  Schwitters constructed large scale installations in Hanover (destroyed by bombing), in Norway (also destroyed)and in Ambleside (unfinished).  Richard Hamilton 'rescued' his Ambleside Merz Barn and installed it in the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle.   I adored the small collages and the extraordinary tonal quality of his 'poem' Ursonate made it quite compelling.  He said 'create connections if possible between everything in the world'  Fascinating.