KURT SCHWITTERS

(1887-1948)

Still life with penny

Footnotes

Provenance
Dr. Walter Dux Collection, UK (a gift from the artist).
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Exhibited
Manchester, City of Manchester Art Gallery, New Movements in Art, 19 September – 18 October 1942, no. 62.
London, The Modern Art Gallery, Paintings and Sculpture by Kurt Schwitters, December 1944, no. 1b.
Hanover, Sprengel Museum Hanover, Aller Anfang ist MERZ – Von Kurt Schwitters bis heute, 20 August – 5 November 2000, no. 168 (later travelled to Dusseldorf and Munich).

Literature
I. Ewig, 'Raoul Hausmann & Kurt Schwitters, Correspondance 1946-1947', in Les Cahiers du Musée national d'art moderne, no. 76, Summer 2001 (illustrated p. 58).
K. Orchard & I. Schulz, Kurt Schwitters, Catalogue raisonné, Vol. III, 1937-1948, Hanover, 2006, no. 2771 (illustrated p. 295).


Still life with penny and Vielen herzlichen Dank! were both formerly in the collection of Dr. Walter Dux, a close friend and patron of Kurt Schwitters. A wealthy Hanover industrialist, Dr. Dux had emigrated to London from Nazi Germany and was a crucial source of support for Schwitters during his exile in the United Kingdom. Schwitters and Dr. Dux reportedly established their friendship in Hanover whilst belonging to the same fraternity.

Following the deterioration of the political situation in Germany under Hitler's regime in the 1930s, both Schwitters and Dux made plans to flee the country. Dux arrived in London in 1934 having purportedly rented a group of train carriages to transport all the family's belonging across the continent. Once in the UK, the Dux family sponsored and vouched for a number of other Jewish families who had also made their escape. Meanwhile, Schwitters' situation in Germany was becoming increasingly untenable. By early 1937 he was officially wanted by the Gestapo and in July of the same year his Merz works were included in the infamous Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich. Schwitters fled to Norway in early 1937 to join his son Ernst who had moved there the year prior; father and son would remain there until the German invasion of Norway in 1940 and they eventually arrived in the United Kingdom in the summer of that year. As an enemy alien, Schwittters was detained in various internment camps in Scotland and England before arriving at Hutchinson camp in Douglas on the Isle of Man a month later.

Still life with penny was painted during his confinement on the island in 1941. Despite the meagre quality and paucity of artist materials, it was an immensely prolific period for Schwitters who remained resourceful in his practice and repurposed building materials and even porridge to create his paintings and sculptures. With its hand-made mount, Still life with penny shows the determination of Schwitters to continue making work for public preview and sale. He contributed to an art exhibition held at the camp and produced over 200 works during his 16 month imprisonment, including many commissioned portraits which helped to sustain him and his son.

Following his release from the camp in November 1941 Schwitters moved to London. It was there that he reconnected with Dr. Dux, who provided much needed succour at a time when Schwitters was living in the penury of exile and struggling to make a commercial success of his work. Schwitters made almost weekly visits to Dr. Dux where he was drawn into his social circle. Writing to friends in Hanover in 1944, Schwitters reported that he had 'made really good friends' thanks to Dr. Dux's introductions. When Schwitters had nowhere to stay he was able to live rent free with the Dux family in Richmond, Dr. Dux also provided the artist with a weekly sum 'for paints'. Later, when Schwitters had moved to Ambleside in 1945, he and his companion Edith 'Wantee' Thomas were supported by a monthly stipend from Dr. Dux.

Vielen herzlichen Dank! [Many many thanks] is a memento of their friendship and the great appreciation that Schwitters held for his fellow émigré. On the verso of the work, in Schwitters' hand, is the inscription: 'This picture is called 'Vielen herzlichen Dank!' It has been painted by Kurt Schwitters 1944 and dedicated to Dr. Walter Dux on Christmas 1944.' Schwitters expressed his gratitude by gifting many paintings and sculptures to Dux over the course of his time in the UK. A major collection of works from the British period was also entrusted to the doctor for safekeeping, which later passed into the possession of Ernst Schwitters following his father's death. A group of letters now preserved in the Tate Archive between Dr. Dux, Ernst Schwitters and Edith Thomas, testify to the close relationships between the Schwitters and Dux families.