Merz Picture 32 A. The Cherry Picture (Merzbild 32 A. Das Kirschbild)
Kurt Schwitters
German, 1887–1948
1921
A Merz collage by Kurt Schwitters that assembles cut-and-pasted colored and printed paper, cloth, wood, metal, cork, oil, pencil, and ink on board into a playful, fragmented still life centered on a printed cherry card.
You notice a dense, tactile patchwork of torn papers, painted swathes of blue-green, bits of burlap and wood, and a small printed cherry card pinned among them so that ordinary scraps read like a mysterious, abstract landscape.
Schwitters transformed refuse into art, redefining the limits of painting and sculpture and opening the way for later assemblage, Neo‑Dada, and Pop artists to use everyday materials as visual language.
Medium
Cut-and-pasted colored and printed paper, cloth, wood, metal, cork, oil, pencil, and ink on board
Dimensions
36 1/8 x 27 3/4" (91.8 x 70.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. A. Atwater Kent, Jr. Fund
Accession
27.1954
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
