Kurt Schwitters

"During the war everything was in a state of ferment. The abilities and skills which I had brought with me from the academy were of no use whatsoever; and all around me people were fighting about stupid things which I myself couldn't have cared less about…and then, all of a sudden, the glorious revolution began. I don't think much of such revolutions, for people must be ready for them. It's like apples being shaken to the ground by the wind before they've time to ripen, such a shame. But it put an end to that enormous swindle which people call war. I quit my job without notice and then things really got moving. The turmoil had only just begun. At last I felt free, and I gave vent to my jubilation in a loud outburst. Not being wasteful, I took everything with me that I could find, for we were now an impoverished country. One can also shout with junk—and this I did, nailing and gluing it together."
Kurt Schwitters, quoted by essayist Karin Orchard in Schwitters in Norway.

Hero of Dada, Constructivist virtuoso, patron saint of collage, sound poetry and installation art, Schwitters made his greatest impact in the postwar era--while he himself was living in relative seclusion in the north of England--influencing American Pop art (especially Robert Rauschenberg's Combines), Fluxus and assemblage art throughout Europe and America; artists as different as Damien Hirst and Ed Ruscha cite him as an influence.

ACTIVE BACKLIST

PPPPPP: POEMS PERFORMANCES PIECES PROSES PLAYS POETICS
By Kurt Schwitters. Edited and translated by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris.
EXACT CHANGE
ISBN: 9781878972354 | US $17.95
Pub Date: 9/30/2010
Active | In stock

KURT SCHWITTERS: A JOURNEY THROUGH ART
Text by Roger Cardinal. Gwendolen Webster.
HATJE CANTZ
ISBN: 9783775725118 | US $60.00
Pub Date: 5/31/2011
Active | Awaiting stock

KURT SCHWITTERS: CATALOGUE RAISONNé VOLUME 3 1937-1948
Artwork by Kurt Schwitters.
HATJE CANTZ PUBLISHERS
ISBN: 9783775709897 | US $300.00
Pub Date: 11/15/2005
Active | Awaiting stock

KURT SCHWITTERS: CATALOGUE RAISONNé
Artwork by Kurt Schwitters. Edited by Karin Orchard, Isabel Schulz, Inka Schube.
HATJE CANTZ PUBLISHERS
ISBN: 9783775709880 | US $300.00
Pub Date: 5/2/2003
Active | In stock

OUT OF PRINT LISTING

SCHWITTERS IN NORWAY
Edited by Karin Orchard. Text by Terje Thingvold, Isabel Schulz.
HATJE CANTZ
ISBN: 9783775724203 | US $45.00
Pub Date: 5/31/2010
Out of Print | Not available

KURT SCHWITTERS: CATALOGUE RAISONNE
Artwork by Kurt Schwitters.
HATJE CANTZ PUBLISHERS
ISBN: 9783775709262 | US $300.00
Pub Date: 6/2/2001
Out of print | Not available

KURT SCHWITTERS
NAI010 PUBLISHERS/STEDELIJK MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
ISBN: 9789056621582 | US $35.00
Pub Date: 6/2/2000
Out of print | Not available

Kurt Schwitters

In the 1930s, anyone traveling to Djupvasshytta in Norway might have run into the improbable figure of Kurt Schwitters, selling his landscapes and portraits to visiting tourists. Schwitters (1887–1948) had discovered the beauty of Norway on his first trip there in 1929, subsequently holidaying in the northwestern part of the country. In January 1937, the artist followed his son Ernst into exile, and constructed his second Merzbau, the Haus am Bakken (House on the Slope), near Oslo, where he remained until the Germans moved in to occupy the country in April 1940. Schwitters in Norway is the first book to examine the stylistically looser and more colorful collages and assemblages, with their pronounced use of natural materials such as stone, driftwood and feathers, as well as the abstract and landscape paintings, from this particularly productive period of the artist's life. The featured image is "Fog in Djupvasshytta," 1937, from Schwitters in Norway.

PPPPPP: Poems Performances Pieces Proses Plays Poetics

By Kurt Schwitters. Edited and translated by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris.
Published by Exact Change

Kurt Schwitters' stated goal was to "erase the boundaries between the arts." This collection, culled from the five-volume German edition of Schwitters' writings, introduces the total work of art that is Merz through Schwitters' words. Included is the complete text for the "Ursonate," Schwitters' legendary and lengthy epic of sound poetry, which, as poets, editors and translators Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris comment, "is to sound poetry what Joyce's Ulysses is to the twentieth-century novel."

Kurt Schwitters: A Journey Through Art

Text by Roger Cardinal. Gwendolen Webster.
Published by Hatje Cantz

The influence of Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) permeates the art, literature and music of the past century as profoundly as any of his contemporaries. Hero of Dada, Constructivist virtuoso, patron saint of collage, sound poetry and installation art, Schwitters made his greatest impact in the postwar era--while he himself was living in relative seclusion in the north of England--influencing American Pop art (especially Robert Rauschenberg's Combines), Fluxus and assemblage art throughout Europe and America; artists as different as Damien Hirst and Ed Ruscha cite him as an influence. This volume is the first serious broad survey of Schwitters' work in 25 years, and attests to his omnipresent influence today. It draws on recent research into the Merzbau interiors, and gathers all aspects of his output, from collage to typography and architecture, into one glorious testimonial to Schwitters' libidinously prolific oeuvre. With texts by British art historian Roger Cardinal and Schwitters scholar Gwendolen Webster, this volume presents a new Schwitters for our times.

Schwitters in Norway

Edited by Karin Orchard. Text by Terje Thingvold, Isabel Schulz.
Published by Hatje Cantz

In the 1930s, anyone traveling to Djupvasshytta in Norway might have run into the improbable figure of Kurt Schwitters, selling his landscapes and portraits to visiting tourists. Schwitters (1887–1948) had discovered the beauty of Norway on his first trip there in 1929, subsequently holidaying in the northwestern part of the country. In January 1937, the artist followed his son Ernst into exile, and constructed his second Merzbau, the Haus am Bakken (House on the Slope), near Oslo, where he remained until the Germans moved in to occupy the country in April 1940. Schwitters in Norway is the first book to examine the stylistically looser and more colorful collages and assemblages, with their pronounced use of natural materials such as stone, driftwood and feathers, as well as the abstract and landscape paintings, from this particularly productive period of the artist's life. With nearly 100 color plates, this volume greatly enriches our picture of one of last century's most influential artists.

Kurt Schwitters: Catalogue Raisonné Volume 3 1937-1948

Artwork by Kurt Schwitters.
Published by Hatje Cantz Publishers

Although Kurt Schwitters was one of the most influential artists of international Modernism, only select portions of his immensely varied body of pictorial work have been investigated thoroughly. And what a body of work it is, unlike one ever seen before or after, combining bits of found detritus into compositions of tight, unexpected melodies and startling tunes. Schwitters was constantly sighting scraps of handbills, train tickets, newspapers, clothing and more on the city streets, pocketing them for later use in one of his Merz collages. His intense body of found object constructions stands as one of the premier examples of the ultimtate modern form, assemblage, of which he has been called the “grandfather.” After extensive research worldwide and a complete examination of his artistic estate, Schwitters's oeuvre has finally been properly acknowledged, documented, and prepared for public presentation. The comprehensive Kurt Schwitters Catalogue Raisonné, of which the present volume is the third and final installation, includes more than four thousand works from the period between 1905 and 1948, many of them published for the first time. Lost and destroyed works are documented whenever possible. For ease of reference, the survey is ordered chronologically; within each year, works are sub-divided according to genre. In this third volume are presented creations spanning Schwitters' years in exile, 1937 to 1948, when he escaped Nazi Germany to live first in Norway and then in England. Though artworks are primarily reproduced in black-and-white, each volume of the catalogue also presents color reproductions of representative works.

Kurt Schwitters: Catalogue Raisonné

Volume 2 1923-1936

Artwork by Kurt Schwitters. Edited by Karin Orchard, Isabel Schulz, Inka Schube.
Published by Hatje Cantz Publishers

There is scarcely an artist working today, provided they use materials other than paint, who does not refer to Kurt Schwitters in some way. In his bold and wide-ranging experiments, his prodigious collages and ground-breaking environments, he can be seen as the grandfather of Pop art, happenings, concept art, Fluxus, multimedia art, and even postmodernism--yet only certain parts of his immensely varied pictorial work have been thoroughly investigated. From the Dadaist collages to the final, partial incarnation of the “Merzbau” in the Lake District of England, Schwitters's oeuvre is here documented and properly acknowledged for the first time in a three-volume catalogue raisonné, of which this is the second installment. More than 4,000 works produced between 1905 and 1948, among them numerous previously unpublished, destroyed and lost pictures and paintings, are presented in this authoritative compendium, following worldwide research and a complete viewing of his artistic estate. The artist's works are ordered chronologically and then according to genre, and illustrated in black and white; select representative works appear in color. This second volume covers the years from 1923 to 1936, a period in which Schwitters added steadily to his Hanover Merzbau and in which his work reflected his struggle with international Constructivism. The volume ends with his 1937 flight from Germany. This publication is edited by the Sprengel Museum, Hanover, with the help of Karin Orchard and Isabel Schulz on behalf of the Norddeutsche Landesbank and the Stadtsparkasse Hanover.
Also Available:
Kurt Schwitters Catalogue Raisonné: Volume I 1905-1922
Hbk, 10 x 12 in. / 552 pgs / 150 color and 950 b&w
ISBN: 30-7757-0926-6 $250
Hatje Cantz Publishers
Kurt Schwitters Catalogue Raisonné: Volume 3 1937-1948
Hatje Cantz Publishers

Kurt Schwitters: Catalogue Raisonne

Volume I 1905-1922

Artwork by Kurt Schwitters.
Published by Hatje Cantz Publishers

Kurt Schwitters was one of the most influential, groundbreaking and forward-looking artists of Modernism, yet only certain areas of his immensely diverse oeuvre have been thoroughly investigated and catalogued. With this massive first volume of a landmark three-volume catalogue raisonné that oeuvre has now been fully documented for the first time, bringing to light many of Schwitters' previously unpublished collages, drawings and paintings. This first volume covers the artist's early years, from 1905 to 1922, with little-known works from the period prior to World War I, as well as the earliest Merz pieces he created between 1918 and 1922. The works are organized chronologically and, within years, according to genre. The book also features a detailed and illustrated biography of the artist.

Kurt Schwitters

I is Style

Artwork by Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters. Edited by Jean Hans Arp. Contributions by Rudi Fuchs, Siegfried Gohr, Hans Richter.
Published by nai010 publishers/Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam