A photograph of her head appears in the lower right corner, juxta-
posed with a map of Europe showing the progress of women’s en-
franchisement. Aware of the power both women and Dada had to
destabilize society, Höch made forceful visual manifestations of that
belief.KURT SCHWITTERSThe Hanover Dada artist Kurt Schwit-
ters(1887–1948) followed a gentler muse. Inspired by Cubist collage
but working nonobjectively, Schwitters found visual poetry in the cast-
off junk of modern society and scavenged in trash bins for materials,
which he pasted and nailed together into designs such as Merz 19
(FIG. 35-30). The term “Merz,” which Schwitters used as a generic
title for a whole series of collages, derived nonsensically from the
German word Kommerzbank (commerce bank) and appeared as a
word fragment in one of his compositions. Although nonobjective, his
collages still resonate with the meaning of the fragmented found ob-
jects they contain. The recycled elements of Schwitters’s collages, like
Duchamp’s readymades, acquire new meanings through their new uses
and locations. Elevating objects that are essentially trash to the status of
high art certainly fits within the parameters of the Dada program and
parallels the absurd dimension of much of Dada art. Contradiction,
paradox, irony, and even blasphemy are Dada’s bequest. They are, in the
view of Dada and its successors, the free and defiant artist’s weapons in
what has been called the hundred years’ war with the public.America, 1900 to
Avant-garde experiments in the arts were not limited to Europe. A
wide range of artists engaged in a lively exchange of artistic ideas and
significant transatlantic travel. In the latter part of the 19th century,
American artists such as John Singer Sargent (see Chapter 30), James
Abbott McNeil Whistler, and Mary Cassatt (see Chapter 31) spent
much of their productive careers in Europe, whereas many Euro-
pean artists ended their careers in America, especially in anticipation
of and, later, in the wake of World War I. Visionary patrons sup-932 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 194535-30Kurt Schwitters,Merz 19,1920. Paper collage, 7^1 – 4 5 –^78 .
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (gift of Collection Société
Anonyme).
Inspired by Cubist collage but working nonobjectively, Schwitters found
visual poetry in the cast-off junk of modern society, which he pasted
and nailed together into striking Dada compositions.35-31John Sloan,Sixth Avenue and Thirtieth
Street, New York City,1907. Oil on canvas, 2^1 – 4
2 8 . Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
(gift of Meyer P. Potamkin and Vivian O. Potamkin,
2000).
A prominent member of the American Realist group
called The Eight, Sloan captured in his paintings the
bleak and seedy aspects of the rapidly changing
urban landscape of New York City.1 in.
1 in.