Anna Poupě

The painter, sculptor, poet, writer, and all-round collagist Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) is one of the best known representatives of Dadaism, but his work cannot be confined to a single epoch or movement. The book includes a selection of poetry from 1914-1947. The creator of a specific branch of Dada, to which he gave the name "MERZ", remained unknown to a wider audience throughout his creative life, but he was confident in his endeavours, distinguished by an unprecedented tenacity and instinct: "I know that I am important as a factor in the development of art and will remain important in every age," he wrote confidently in 1930; that he was right has been shown again and again. He is considered to be one of the forerunners of Concretism, also of happening or intermedia and multimedia practices in art, he is at the origin of architectural or environmental installations, he can also be seen in connection with conceptualism, and comparisons with the theatre of the absurd have also been made. His literary work is closely linked to his visual work and ranges across a wide spectrum of genres: from poetry to small prose pieces, fables and fairy tales, dramatic texts to theoretical essays and manifestos. Our selection focuses on Schwitters' poetry and offers a small insight into his visual work. It is surprising that so little attention has been paid to this idiosyncratic author in this country: a book-length selection of his poetry is intended to repay at least part of this debt.