Kurt Schwitters and Ray Johnson

Schwitters is now considered one of the major artists of the avant-garde German between 1920 and 1940. Close to the Dada movement and De Stilj, he wanted to "blur the boundaries between the arts." His approach is unique and original in its time, was to create a total work of art, "synthesis of all art forms." It brought together much of its work under the name Merz , derived from the word "Kommerz" (trade), cut from a bank prospectus. His collages and assemblages, consisting of fragments torn from reality - newspaper clippings, travel tickets, advertisements, various rubbish ... -, are characterized by elaborate composition, an aesthetic approach and asserted a great sense of humor. His poems, consisting of sounds, syllables or single words are abstract rhythmic proposals. From 1919 to 1939, he built his house in Hanover a "Merz", "environment" consists of collages of heterogeneous materials progressively invading an entire room. His art has been called "degenerate" by the National Socialists, he decided emigrated to Norway in 1937, then to England where he remained until the end of his days . The exhibited works were created between 1920 and 1947, most of them have never been exhibited in France. They provide a condensed overview of the diversity of the work of Schwitters.  Like Schwitters, Ray Johnson was a maverick in the world of art. The "New York Times" described him as "the most famous unknown artist". He gave his collages, designed for presentation for museums and galleries, the name of Moticos . Meanwhile, he sent many of its work by post to a huge network of recipients - letters containing texts and motifs, it integrated so changed his collages. For his collages, he used pieces of images from magazines and newspapers but also personal work he cut, pasted on cardboard, and he covered the painting surface. Sometimes, he reworked these collage elements, comparable to parts of mo saïque with sandpaper. Very often the recipients of his letters were part of the creative process and were asked to bring their personal contribution. Before the advent of the Internet is born and a communication network with many branches.  Middle of Pop Art, Ray Johnson is considered, since the creation of "New York Correspondence School" in 1963, as the founder of Mail Art.

Text taken from the Musée Denys-Puech website