Dadaism was an art movement of European avantgarde art that first made an appearance in the early 20th century. Dadaism or Dada was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theater, dance and politics. even though Surrealism might seem somewhat similar to Dadaism those two movements are very different. Dadaism arose due to the horrors of WWI in Europe and the paintings done in this style were meant to have the look of meaningless absurdity.
Raoul Hausmann, ‘The Art Critic’ 1919–20
Kurt Schvitters was a well known German artist that worked with different art mediums and tried working in Different art styles as Constructivism, Surrealism and Dadaism. Schvitters was a Dadaist in every inch, yet he didn’t get accepted into the Dada Club, mainly because he came from a rich family. This however did not stop Schvitters from creating his own Dada art movement in 1918 called “Merz” or also known as “one man movement“. The word Merz will not be found in a dictionary but sounds similarly to Kommerz (commerce) but also Herz (heart), Scherz (a prank) or Marz (March) symbolizing the energy and freshness of spring.
Kurt Schvitters in 1927
One of his famous works of Merz is called “Dislocated Forces” and had the purpose of showing the joy of the end of the war. It was made from pieces that he found around as everyday life objects. Some of them could even be broken which symbolized suspicions towards everything and everyone during war time. Schvitters have created many of such works and collages to be provocative to the viewer rather then appealing or pleasing to the eye. Dark colours and angles he used in many of his works creates an impression of the dynamism of that time.
Dislocated Forces (Merz picture) 1920 assemblage, wood, metal spring and cloth.
Resources:
https://theartstack.com/artist/kurt-schwitters/dislocated-forces-merz
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Schwitters
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/d/dada
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-schwitters-kurt-artworks.htm
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