In the existing literature on Kurt Schwitters, many excellent discoveries about process,
materiality, and his life have been made. The careful reconstruction of these narratives by
scholars such as Werner Schmalenbach, John Elderfield, Isabel Schulz, Gwendolen
Webster, Marc Dachy, Roger Cardinal, Karin Orchard and Megan Luke, have given
invaluable insights into the ways in which Schwitters’ work has influenced and been
integral to the development of the various avant-garde movements of the twentieth century.
However, while these studies have laid the foundations to examine the biographical and
aesthetic qualities of Schwitters’ work, it has often denied readings that allow for an
understanding of the political aspects which confront the viewer.
Schwitters was the creator of Merz, a hybrid art form which borrowed from Expressionism,
Dada, and Constructivism, but was never singularly committed to any of these
movements/groups. Schwitters had had too much training to be a serious Expressionist,
the movement deni
