Mann schaaft Lilablau. 1919.
Watercolor and pencil on paper.
Orchard / Schulz 529. Signed, dated and inscribed "Aq.7" in lower right on original mount. Verso with the title "Aq. 6. Mann schaaft lilabla" (sic). 33.5 x 26 cm (13.1 x 10.2 in), size of sheet.
The sheet was mounted by the artist with old newspaper clippings. The mounting was presumably turned around, because of the erroneous title inscription 'Aq. 6.' instead of '7'. [EH].
Extraordinarily early watercolor
In original mount.

PROVENANCE: Collection Hans Klein Schmidt, New York (until 1927)
Carus Gallery, New York 1972 - 1974, cat. no 74 with illu.
Private collection USA (acquired from aforementioned).

EXHIBITION: 108. Ausstellung. Kurt Schwitters. L. Kosinzova-Ehrenburg. Gesamtschau des Sturm, Galerie Der Sturm, Berlin 1922, no. 87. Presumably on consignment (verso with a typographic label, there with inscription)
Aller Anfang ist MERZ - von Kurt Schwitters bis heute. Sprengel-Museum Hanover August 20 - November 5, 2000; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf November 25, 2000 - February 18, 2001; Haus der Kunst Munich March 9 - May 20, 2001, color illu. o p. 33.

LITERATURE: Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, auction 145 lot 1145, illu. plate 79
Dorothea Dietrich (1993) 1995, The Collages of Kurt Schwitters. Tradition and Innovation, Cambridge (MA), illu. 46
Isabelle Ewig, Kurt Schwitters Oxymore ou l'art de la contradiction 2000, unpublished typoscript, diss., University Sorbonne, Paris 2000, cat. no. 32 color illu. 382.
"I value sense against nonsense. I prefer nonsense, but that's a personal preference." Kurt Schwitters 1920