Kurt Schwitters Merzbau

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Overview

German artist Kurt Schwitters began constructing the Merzbau, a combination of collage, sculpture, and architecture, in a corner of his studio in Hannover, Germany in 1920. Also called the Cathedral of Erotic Misery, this was Schwitters's private world. It eventually took over his entire living quarters, the apartment above, and part of the yard, and was divided into rooms-the Biedermeier Room, the de Stijl Room, the Goethe Cave, the Mondrian Cave, and the Mies Cave, among ...
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Overview

German artist Kurt Schwitters began constructing the Merzbau, a combination of collage, sculpture, and architecture, in a corner of his studio in Hannover, Germany in 1920. Also called the Cathedral of Erotic Misery, this was Schwitters's private world. It eventually took over his entire living quarters, the apartment above, and part of the yard, and was divided into rooms-the Biedermeier Room, the de Stijl Room, the Goethe Cave, the Mondrian Cave, and the Mies Cave, among others. It was destroyed during an Allied bombing raid in 1943.
Although the Merzbau is of essential importance in understanding the early Modern Movement, this is the first in-depth study in English of this structure. Elizabeth Burns Gamard discusses its physical evolution and its significance within the artist's oeuvre. She also investigates its larger relation to German Expressionism and romanticism and to critical thought of the time. This book offers an in-depth analysis of a single structure through original documents, drawings, and critical examination of the design process.
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Editorial Reviews

Architecture Magazine
Well-researched study, Gamard's evaluation of Schwitters' artwork clarifies its relevance to architecture, which Schwitters' himself observed is actually more like the idea of Merz than all other arts.
Library Journal
This graduate-level discourse on Kurt Schwitters (1887 1948) suggests that there is a hermeneutic content to the artist s works. Highly regarded author Gamard (architecture, Tulane Univ.), who deploys a moderately academic writing style, believes that Schwitters s best work was his famous construction in Hannover of the house-sized Merzbau, begun in 1923 and destroyed in 1943. The KdeE (as the Merzbau was also called) was an environment that grew out of Schwitters s studio in his family s apartment and adopted utopian and alchemistic themes. Over the years, Schwitters endlessly transformed the space into a cathedral-like series of grottoes, collages, and sections named Cave of the Sex, Lust Murderers, and Cave of the Deprecated Heroes, among others. The book contains 50 black-and-white illustrations, but they do not support Gamard s argument regarding the superiority of the KdeE. Suited to Schwitters specialists and the sophisticated follower of modern European art, this challenging work is for specialized academic or large public collections. Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781568981369
  • Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
  • Publication date: 7/3/2008
  • Series: Building Studies Series
  • Edition description: 1 ED
  • Pages: 192
  • Sales rank: 1,317,644
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 0.50 (d)

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