8. “Merz Drawings” II: Uncertainty and isolation

Kurt Schwitters produced his Merz Drawings in the 1930s, a period of profound upheaval. When the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Schwitters was stripped of his livelihood. His artworks were declared “degenerate” by the regime, and many of his friends and contemporaries were forced to emigrate. The uncertainty of this period is reflected in his works: they are less cheerful, less playful than his previous works, more austere and concentrated. They are also smaller and more condensed and feature writing in Norwegian. In order to continue to make art while travelling, Schwitters transported his working materials in a wooden trunk, which he also transformed into a collage artwork in its own right.

Background: As a result of the shifting political landscape, Schwitters lost his job as a typographer for the City of Hanover and all of his commercial contracts. He was no longer able to exhibit, and the sale of his artworks also ground to a halt. Schwitters withdrew from the art scene in Germany and focussed his attentions abroad. He travelled to the Netherlands and Switzerland, where his art continued to generate interest. He spent the summer months with his family in Norway, where he painted landscapes and portraits, for which he also managed to find buyers. In the Nazis’ travelling Degenerate Art exhibition from 1937, Schwitters and Paul Klee are named as the principal representatives of Dada.