Kurt Schwitters. Das Unbild, postcard to C.R. de Boer, 1923

Card with handwritten text by Schwitters on both sides, sent to the architect C.R. de Boer, in Drachten, The Netherlands. Original Schwitters Merzbild postcard 'Das Unbild', Verlag Steegemann Hannover, 14 x 9 cm. Dated 17.6.1923. Post stamped 'Berlin 19.6.23'. Purple pencil on paper, recto elaborately collaged with stamps. Tiny abrasion lower centre (4 mm) not affecting the writing, fine copy.

Schwitter's text refers to a 'Kasten' work (collaged box) Schwitters was preparing for de Boer. He also announces that he is working on a Merz portfolio containing 6 lithos. Provenance collection K.Schippers. Full transcription of the card in K.Schippers, Holland Dada 2000 pp. 233-234. In the early 1920s the international avant-garde movement was brought to Drachten by the brothers Thijs and Evert Rinsema who befriended the figurehead of De Stijl Theo van Doesburg and Dadaist Kurt Schwitters. They became regular visitors and executed several art and architecture projects in Drachten, some in collaboration with De Boer. Drachten was also the last venue of the (in)famous 'Dada Fieldtrip', held on 13 April 1923.