SOURCE: "The Early Work of Kurt Schwitters," in Artforum Vol. X, No. 3, November, 1971, pp. 54-67.

In the following essay, Elderfield examines the structure of Schwitters's collages and assemblages of 1917 to 1923, discussing aesthetic developments in his art during this period.

An object that tells of the loss, destruction, disappearance of objects. Does not speak of itself Tells of others. Will it include them.

—Jasper Johns

In 1919, Kurt Schwitters chose the word "Merz" to describe what he called his "pasted and nailed pictures" because he could not "define them with the older conceptions like Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism or whatever" and because he wished to make them "like a species."¹ This insistence on a generic title reflects Schwitters' consciousness of having achieved an independent and original status for his art. Schwitters' historical reputation rests largely on the innovations of his early years. These established the framework for all his subsequent work...