View source for Merz (art style)

[[File:Kurt Schwitters.JPG|thumb|MERZ artist Kurt Schwitters]]
'''Merz (art style)''' is a [[synonym]] for the more common expression and term [[Dada]],<ref>Cf. Richard Huelsenbeck (Ed.): ''Dada Almanach''. New York, Something Else Press, 1966 (reprint of the 1920-edition).</ref> and traces back to [[Kurt Schwitters]].<ref>Cf. Ernst Nündel: ''Kurt Schwitters'' in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlts Monograph 296, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981. {{ISBN|3499502968}}
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==Origin==
Merz was conceptualized by Kurt Schwitters, who planned a Dada section in Hanover. However, upon being denied an invitation to the First International Dada Fair in Berlin in 1920, Schwitters wished to establish a subsect of the Dada movement that was tailored to his own artistic philosophies and visions. In his own words, he wished to find a "''totally unique hat fitting only a single head"— his own''.<ref>Ernst Nündel: ''Kurt Schwitters'' in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlts Monographien 296, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981, p. 19 f. {{ISBN|3499502968}}</ref><ref>(Original German quote translated by Arguseyed2200).</ref>
==Etymology==
The name ''Merz'' was generated by chance through a collage that incorporated the German word ''Kom'''merz''''' (commerce). The resulting word, which was nonsensical and spontaneously generated, was similar in origin and philosophy to the title of Dada. ''Merz'' became Schwitters's synonym for his own approach to Dada.<ref>Cf. ''Kurt Schwitters, 1887-1948: Urwerk'', Edited by Robert Galitz/Kurt Kreiler/Klaus Gabbert. Frankfurt am Main/Berlin 1986. {{ISBN|3-549-06667-8}}. New Edition: Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2007. {{ISBN|9783861506744}}</ref>
== Characteristics ==
Like Dada, Merz was characterized by spontaneity and frequently made use of found objects. One of the most significant Merz artifacts constructed by Schwitters is the [[Merzbau]], a tower-sized sculpture assembled from refuse and ephemera that occupied the inside of his apartment and existed from 1927 to 1943, when it was destroyed by a British air raid during [[World War II]]. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Orchard |first=Karin |title=Kurt Schwitters: Reconstructions of the Merzbau – Tate Papers |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/08/kurt-schwitters-reconstructions-of-the-merzbau |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Reception==
Kurt Schwitters, a pioneer in fusing collage and abstraction— influenced [[Robert Rauschenberg]], [[Jasper Johns]],  the [[Fluxus]] movement and [[Joseph Beuys]], too.<ref>Cf. ''Kurt Schwitters — Space, Image, Exile'' by Megan R. Luke. 352 p., 22 color plates, 98 halftones. University of Chicago, 2014.</ref>
==See also==
* [[Kurt Schwitters]]
* [[Dada]]
* [[Fluxus]]
* [[Joseph Beuys]]
* [[Robert Rauschenberg]]
* [[Jasper Johns]]
* [[Louise Nevelson]]
==References==
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==External links==
* See, for example, about Merz Picture 32 A, 1921 [http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/kurt-schwitters-merz-picture-32-a-the-cherry-picture-1921]
* See about his last of all works, the Merzbarn Wall [https://web.archive.org/web/20131020031234/http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/hatton-gallery/collections/kurt-schwitters-and-the-merzbarn-wall.html]
[[Category:Art movements]]
[[Category:Western art]]
[[Category:20th century]]
[[Category:1920 in art]]
[[Category:Dada|Merz]]