Sale: 591 / Day Sale, June 07. 2025 in Munich button next Lot 213


213
Kurt Schwitters
Ohne Titel (Die Handlung spielt in Theben), 1922.
Collage. Paper and red chalks on backing cardboard
Estimate:
€ 70,000 - 90,000

 
$ 79,100 - 101,700

+
Ohne Titel (Die Handlung spielt in Theben). 1922.
Collage. Paper and red chalks on backing cardboard.
Signed in the lower left. 16.3 x 20 cm (6.4 x 7.8 in). Backing board: 22 x 25,7 cm (8,26 x 9,84 in).
[MH].
• A characteristic "Merz drawing" by the important Dada protagonist, particularly notable for its rare landscape format.
• After initial attempts at Impressionism and Constructivism, Schwitters developed his signature pictorial language in his "Merzzeichnungen".
• Shortly after the birth of abstract painting, Schwitters took a crucial step by banishing any style as an artistic signature from his creations.
• In 1985/86 part of the comprehensive solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London
.

PROVENANCE: Charlotte Weidler, New York (no later than 1962–1978. With a collection label on the reverse, dated 1918).
Chalette Gallery, New York (1966, probably on consignment from the above).
Solomon, New York (acquired by Charlotte Weidler around 1978, with a label on the reverse)
From a Swiss collection.

EXHIBITION: Kurt Schwitters, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio (Texas) / Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena/California, cat. no. 7 ( illustrated) / The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester (New Hempshire) / The Phillips Collection, Washington / University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Minnesota) / J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville (Kentucky), 1962/63.
Kurt Schwitters, Chalette Gallery, New York, October/November 1963, cat. No. 6 ( illustrated).
Art in the Mirror, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Nov. 22, 1966 - Feb. 6, 1967, cat. no. 34.
Kurt Schwitters, Galerie Vömel, Düsseldorf, March 1971, cat. no. 2 ( illustrated).
Kurt Schwitters, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 10 - October 1, 1985, illu. 84 / Tate Gallery, London, November 6, 1985-January 5, 1986, cat. no. 89 / Sprengel Museum, Hanover, February 4 - April 20, 1986, cat. no. 126 (illustrated).

LITERATURE: Karin Orchard, Isabel Schulz, Kurt Schwitters. Catalogue raisonné, published by Sprengel Museum Hanover, vol. 1: 1905-1922, Ostfildern 2000, no. 1038 (illustrated).
--
Simone Frigerio, Importance de Schwitters (1887-1948), in: Aujourd'hui, vol. 47, Paris 1964, pp. 14-17 (illustrated).
John Elderfield, The Early Work of Kurt Schwitters, in: Artforum, vol. X, issue 3, 1971, pp. 54-67 ( illustrated).
Micheal Erlhoff (ed.), Kurt Schwitters Almanach 3, Kulturamt der Stadt Hannover 1982-1991.
Udo Liebelt, Kurt Schwitters. Werke und Themen, Hanover 1986 ( illustrated).
John Elderfield, Kurt Schwitters, Düsseldorf 1987 (illustrated).
Dorothea Dietrich, The Collection of Kurt Schwitters. Tradition and Innovation, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1993/1995 ( illustrated).
Dorothea Dietrich, Les Habits neufs de la tradition. Schwitters les femmes et les collages, in: Les Cahiers du Musée national d'art moderne, vol. 51, Paris 1995, pp. 81-105 ( illustrated).
Kim Behm, Die frühen Nachkriegszeichnungen von Kurt Schwitters (1918-1923), unpublished typescript; master's thesis, University of Marburg 1997.
Isabelle Ewig, Kurt Schwitters Oxymore ou l'art de la contradiction, unpublished typescript, PhD thesis, Sorbonne University, Paris 2000 (illustarted).

"I felt abssolutely free and I had to scream my elation out into the world. Out of thrift, I took what I could find, because we were an impoverished country. You can also shout with garbage, and that's what I did by gluing and nailing things together."
Kurt Schwitters on his "Merz" art.
Friedrich Lach (ed.), Kurt Schwitters. Das Literarische Werk, vol. 5, Cologne 1973-1981, p. 335.

Called up: June 7, 2025 - ca. 16.30 h +/- 20 min.




213
Kurt Schwitters
Ohne Titel (Die Handlung spielt in Theben), 1922.
Collage. Paper and red chalks on backing cardboard
Estimate:
€ 70,000 - 90,000

 
$ 79,100 - 101,700

+


Buyer's premium and taxation for Kurt Schwitters "Ohne Titel (Die Handlung spielt in Theben)"
This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation.

Differential taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 32 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 27 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 22 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The buyer's premium contains VAT, however, it is not shown.

Regular taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 27 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 21% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 15% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The statutory VAT of currently 7 % is levied to the sum of hammer price and premium.

We kindly ask you to notify us before invoicing if you wish to be subject to regular taxation.



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