Ohne Titel (VENI). Merzzeichnung. 1944.
Collage, newsprint, transparent paper, cloth and oil painting on cardboard.
Lower right monogrammed and dated. 13.5 x 12 cm (5.3 x 4.7 in).

• Beautiful collage made by Schwitters during his stay in Barnes, London.
• Inscribed with the provisional catalog raisonné number "1103 U" by the son on the reverse.
• After Impressionist and Constructivist beginnings, Schwitters found his own revolutionary visual language in his "Merzzeichnungen," collages of typographic found objects, which he maintained throughout his life.
• Schwitters' famous "Merzzeichnungen" are now part of numerous important museum collections, including the Tate Modern, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Consistent provenance and part of the same collection for almost 40 years.

We are grateful to the Kurt Schwitters archive at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Artist's studio.
Ernst Schwitters, Lysaker 1948-1960 (inherited from the artist)
Lord's Gallery, London (on consignment 1959-60)
Collection of Dieter and Miriam Keller, Stuttgart and Baden-Baden (acquired from Lord's Gallery in 1960, London)
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired from the above at Hauswedell & Nolte in 1985).

EXHIBITION: A New Selection of Collages by Kurt Schwitters, Lord's Gallery, London 1959, no. 23
Kurt Schwitters 1887-1948. Cambridge Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge November 14 - December 5, 1959, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, January 2 - 23,1960, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, January 30 - February 20, 1960, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery Leiscester, February 27 - March 19, 1960, Herbert Temporary Art Gallery, Coventry, March 25 - April 16, 1960, Glasgow University Print Room, Glasgow, April 23 - May 14, 1960, cat. no. 101.
Kurt Schwitters, Sprengel Museum Hanover, February 4 - April 20, 1986 (1st ed. only), cat. no. 291.

LITERATURE: Orchard, Karin, und Isabel Schulz, Kurt Schwitters. Catalogue raisonné, ed by Sprengel Museum Hanover by commission of the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, der Norddeutschen Landesbank, Sparkasse Hanover and the Kurt and Ernst Schwitters Stiftung, Hanover, vol. III. Ostfildern-Ruit 2006, no. 3080, p. 434 fig.
Moderne Kunst, Hauswedell & Nolte, Moderne Kunst, 254th auction, June 8/9, 1984, lot 1502, fig. plate 125.
Moderne Kunst, Hauswedell & Nolte, Moderne Kunst, 259th auction, June 6-8, 1985, lot 1462, plate 123a.

In good condition. Overall somewhat browned. The collage is somewhat detached from the backing material along the edges. [EH]