Kurt Schwitters
1887 to 1948
15 documented presences
10 places
Quo Fuit places 15 dated presences for Kurt Schwitters across 10 places, from 1887 to 1948. Each one keeps the sentence it was taken from and a link to its source.
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist.Wikipedia, full article · CC BY-SA
Where Kurt Schwitters was documented, and when
20 June 1887exact date
Hanoverattested
“Kurt Schwitters was born on 20 June 1887 in Hanover, at Rumannstraße No.2, now No.8, the only child of Eduard Schwitters and his wife Henriette (née Beckemeyer).”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1898year
Hanoverattested
“The business was sold in 1898, and the family used the money to buy some properties in Hanover, which they rented out, allowing the family to live off the income for the rest of Schwitters' life in Germany.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1898year
Germanyattested
“The business was sold in 1898, and the family used the money to buy some properties in Hanover, which they rented out, allowing the family to live off the income for the rest of Schwitters' life in Germany.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1909 to 1915period
Hanoverattested
“After studying art at the Dresden Academy alongside Otto Dix and George Grosz, (although Schwitters seems to have been unaware of their work, or indeed of contemporary Dresden artists Die Brücke), 1909–1915, Schwitters returned to Hanove…”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1909 to 1915period
Dresden Academy of Fine Artsattested
“After studying art at the Dresden Academy alongside Otto Dix and George Grosz, (although Schwitters seems to have been unaware of their work, or indeed of contemporary Dresden artists Die Brücke), 1909–1915, Schwitters returned to Hanove…”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1923 to 1937period
Norwayattested
“This took place very gradually; work started in about 1923, the first room was finished in 1933, and Schwitters subsequently extended the Merzbau to other areas of the house until he fled to Norway in early 1937.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1927year
Bauhausattested
“In a manner similar to the typographic experimentation by Herbert Bayer at the Bauhaus, and Jan Tschichold's Die neue Typographie, Schwitters experimented with the creation of a new more phonetic alphabet in 1927.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1933year
Germanyattested
“As the political situation in Germany under the Nazis continued to deteriorate throughout the 1930s, Schwitters's work began to be included in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) touring exhibition organised by the Nazi party from 1933.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
2 January 1937exact date
Norwayattested
“On 2 January 1937 Schwitters, wanted for an "interview" with the Gestapo, fled to Norway to join his son Ernst, who had already left Germany on 26 December 1936.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
2 January 1937exact date
Germanyattested
“On 2 January 1937 Schwitters, wanted for an "interview" with the Gestapo, fled to Norway to join his son Ernst, who had already left Germany on 26 December 1936.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
17 July 1940exact date
Scotlandattested
“Officially an enemy alien, he was moved between various internment camps in Scotland and England before arriving on 17 July 1940 in Hutchinson Camp in the Isle of Man.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
17 July 1940exact date
Hutchinson Internment Campattested
“Officially an enemy alien, he was moved between various internment camps in Scotland and England before arriving on 17 July 1940 in Hutchinson Camp in the Isle of Man.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
17 July 1940exact date
Isle of Manattested
“Officially an enemy alien, he was moved between various internment camps in Scotland and England before arriving on 17 July 1940 in Hutchinson Camp in the Isle of Man.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
January 1948month
Elterwaterattested
“The last Merzbau, in Elterwater, Cumbria, England, remained incomplete on Schwitters's death in January 1948.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1948year
Open Quo Fuit to see these 15 presences on the globe, filter them by date, and follow the journey year by year.
Places Kurt Schwitters is documented in
Germany3 presences · 1898 to 1937Hanover3 presences · 1887 to 1909Norway2 presences · 1923 to 1937Bauhaus1 presence · 1927England1 presence · 1948Scotland1 presence · 1940
Dresden Academy of Fine Arts1 presence · 1909
Elterwater1 presence · 1948
Hutchinson Internment Camp1 presence · 1940
Isle of Man1 presence · 1940
Other places tied to Kurt Schwitters in the record
In each of these, a source puts Kurt Schwitters and the place in the same dated sentence without stating that Kurt Schwitters was there. They are kept apart from the timeline above for exactly that reason: a mention is not a presence, and Quo Fuit does not quietly promote one into the other.
1911year
Hanovermentioned
“In 1911 he took part in his first exhibition, in Hanover.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
February 1918month
Hanovermentioned
“It was like a revolution within me, not as it was, but as it should have been." Schwitters was to come into contact with Herwarth Walden after exhibiting expressionist paintings at the Hanover Secession in February 1918.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
June 1918month
Berlinmentioned
“He showed two Abstraktionen (semi-abstract expressionist landscapes) at Walden's gallery Der Sturm, in Berlin, in June 1918.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1920year
Germanymentioned
“(Merzpicture 29a, Picture with Turning Wheel, 1920 for instance, combines a series of wheels that only turn clockwise, alluding to the general drift Rightwards across Germany after the Spartacist Uprising in January that year, whilst Mai…”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1921year
Praguementioned
“The poem was influenced by Raoul Hausmann's poem "fmsbw" which Schwitters heard recited by Hausmann in Prague, 1921.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1922year
Netherlandsmentioned
“In 1922 Theo van Doesburg organised a series of Dada performances in the Netherlands.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
13 April 1923exact date
Drachtenmentioned
“Schwitters also performed on solo evenings, one of which took place on 13 April 1923 in Drachten, Friesland.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
14 February 1925exact date
Potsdammentioned
“Schwitters first performed the piece on 14 February 1925 at the home of Irmgard Kiepenheuer in Potsdam.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1933year
New Yorkmentioned
“Photos of the Merzbau were reproduced in the journal of the Paris-based group abstraction-création in 1933-34, and were exhibited in MoMA in New York in late 1936.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1936year
United Statesmentioned
“Having emigrated to the United States in 1936, Steinitz sent Schwitters letters describing life in the emerging consumer society, and wrapped the letters in pages of comics to give a flavour of the new world, which she encouraged Schwitt…”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1937year
Lysakermentioned
“Schwitters started a second Merzbau while in exile in Lysaker, near Oslo, in 1937, but abandoned it in 1940 when the Nazis invaded; this Merzbau was subsequently destroyed in a fire in 1951.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1937year
Oslomentioned
“Schwitters started a second Merzbau while in exile in Lysaker, near Oslo, in 1937, but abandoned it in 1940 when the Nazis invaded; this Merzbau was subsequently destroyed in a fire in 1951.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
2 June 1939exact date
Oslomentioned
“The joint celebrations for his mother Henriette's 80th birthday and his son Ernst's engagement, held in Oslo on 2 June 1939, would be the last time the two met.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
1940year
Norwaymentioned
“This was almost complete when Schwitters left Norway for the United Kingdom in 1940.”
source: Wikipedia: Kurt Schwitters
18 June 1940exact date
18 June 1940exact date
September 1942month
October 1943month
1948year
1948year
Documented at the same place, the same year
Queen Sonja of NorwayOslo · 1937George GroszDresden Academy · 1909Princess Alice, Duchess of GloucesterEdinburgh · 1940Anthony BurgessEdinburgh · 1940Phil OchsEdinburgh · 1940Rosa LuxemburgBerlin · 1898Herbert MarcuseBerlin · 1898Theodor FontaneBerlin · 1898Artur SchnabelBerlin · 1898Richard BurtonLondon · 1948Harper LeeLondon · 1948Maurice BéjartLondon · 1948
Two people documented in the same place in the same year is a correlation, not a meeting. Quo Fuit will never say they met without a source that says so.
How to read this page
Every line above is a dated fact taken from a source, with the sentence it came from and a link back to it. Nothing is inferred, and a gap in the record is not evidence that someone was elsewhere.
A tag says how the fact is carried by its source: documented a structured, explicitly dated record, attested a sentence that states the person was there, mentioned a sentence that ties the person to the place without stating presence.
Sources
Sentences quoted from Wikipedia are available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Public domain books come from Project Gutenberg. Quo Fuit claims no rights over these sources.
See Kurt Schwitters on a 3D globe, filter the record by date, and cross this life with another to find where the two overlap.
Open Kurt Schwitters on the globe