Kurt Schwitters, Merz Picture 25A: The Star Picture 1920 Montage, collage and oil on cardboard, 104.5 x 79 cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf ©1999 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild Kunst, Bonn

Kurt Schwitters, "Merz Picture 25A: The Star Picture" 1920 Montage, collage and oil on cardboard, 104.5 x 79 cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf ©1999 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild Kunst, Bonn

This curious poem, “Meatloaf” by Donald Hall, reminded me of the peculiar brilliance of German artist Kurt Schwitters.

Twenty-five years ago, Kurt Schwitters,
I tried to instruct you in baseball
but kept getting distracted, gluing
bits and pieces of world history
alongside personal anecdote
instead of explicating baseball’s
habits. I was K.C. (for Casey)
in stanzas of nine times nine times nine.

Kurt Schwitters appearing in a poem, printed in a modern magazine, over 60 years past his death, caused me to wonder, “What would Schwitters Twitter?”  Perhaps in 1936 he would write:

Drunk on victory in the Rhineland the German masses
listen bewildered to their radios:
the Fuhrer is declaring war
on abstract art

It turns out that Kurt tweets on.

rakete bee bee

10:00 PM Jul 25th from Twitter4J

See more Schwitters Twitters here.

Collage Homage to Kurt Schwitters, by Hank Grebe, 1972, paper on cardboard, 8.5 x 8.5 inches.

Collage Homage to Kurt Schwitters, by Hank Grebe, 1972, paper on cardboard, 8.5 x 8.5 inches.

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