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  • Kurt Schwitters 1887–1948
  • Aphorism, 1923
  • Collage on card
  • Support 89 x 73mm
  • Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to Tate 2007
  • Tate © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2007
  • T12393
  • View work within Tate Collection
Kurt Schwitters: Aphorism

© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2007

Kurt Schwitters formed his own art movement, Merz, in 1919 and found his greatest versatility in collages made from reclaimed papers.

The apparently random collection of papers in Aphorism coalesce into a tiny but carefully balanced composition, centred on subtle tones of buff paper and accented by strong colour.

The layers and complexity of the structure encapsulate the duality of chance and order in his work. Although Schwitters came to Britain as an exile from Nazi Europe, it was only after his death that the subtlety of his practice became widely influential in this country for its irreverence and inventiveness. Philip Granville’s championing of Schwitters’s work in the 1950s helped to cement this reputation and this work was part of his collection, allocated to Tate under the HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax scheme.

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