Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau in Elterwater
20 July 2012
This is Kurt Schwitters’ final Merzbau, located in Elterwater, in the north of the Lake District. I stayed next to it at the Shippon Gallery last week with Natasha Davis, working on her new show Internal Terrains, and I think we got all the sun in the country: six days of gorgeous walks, campfires, woodburning stoves, waking up to the crows of a rooster called One-Eyed Jack, and learning about Dadaist Kurt from Ian Hunter and Celia Larner, owners of the Merzbau.
Schwitters’ application to formally join the Dadaists was rejected in 1918 because some members didn't like his former links to Der Strum and his use of expressionism. Nevertheless he invented the word ‘Merz’ – part of the word ‘Commerzbank’ on a sign he saw from the train – and started his own one-person surrealist art movement - very Dada. Schwitters made four Merzbau in all, in Germany, two in Norway and finally the Lake District, where he ended up after WWII, the only Dadaist to seek refuge in the UK.
Apparently he used to read dada poetry in the Ambleside pubs, where he befriended a farmer who gave him the land to build his barn.When MoMA in New York sent him a cheque for $2000 and a letter saying he should buy a plane ticket to America he wrote back saying he found a perfect place for his new building, and could he keep the money instead? They agreed. It’s a beautiful building, and Ian & Celia are wonderful, generous, ambitious people. There will be a major Kurt Schwitters exhibit at Tate Britain next year, and the two of them are planning to place a large industrial barn outside, with an invitation to any and all artists to fill as they wish…
One more story from Ian: After the war, Kurt Schwitters got the urge to see George Grosz, fellow surrealist, but one who disliked attention. He finally found the building where he lived, found his floor, and knocked on what he thought was his door. When it opened, a man peered out and Kurt said to him, ‘I’m looking for George Grosz.’ The man shouted I’m not George Grosz and slammed the door in his face. Kurt was shocked, and went down to the lobby to check the mailbox number to see if he was mistaken. He was not. So he marched back upstairs and knocked again. When the man opened the door, Kurt grabbed the doorknob, shouted ‘And I’m not Kurt Schwitters!’ and slammed it shut again.
Update 22 July 12: I just received a message from Gwendolen Websterd, President of the Kurt Schwitters Society, to recommend this site where you can find an illustrated overview of Schwitters' life and work, including the Merzbau: http://www.hatjecantz.de/controller.php?cmd=detail&titzif=00002511&lang=en. Thanks Gwendolen...