1947

Prints and Drawings

In this work Kurt Schwitters juxtaposes a large image of a woman, probably taken from an advertisement, with a drawing of a female head, possibly a magazine illustration, that appears to turn toward the other woman. The woman with the rectangle hiding her eyes seems enigmatic, almost disturbing, given the postwar context. The levity conveyed by her beaming smile, shiny hair, and attire (perhaps a bathing suit) stands in sharp contrast to the gravity of events in Schwitters’s personal life, including the death of his wife in 1944, years spent in a British internment camp, and severe health problems. Yet the overall image draws from his new cultural environment in the United Kingdom, particularly mass media and popular culture, in an almost humorous way.

Medium

Collage of newspaper and magazine reproductions and illustrations, yellow painted paper, gray wove paper, and white wove journal cover printed in red ink, on cardstock

Dimensions

image: 6 1/8 × 4 7/8 in. (15.6 × 12.4 cm)
sheet: 10 9/16 × 7 13/16 in. (26.9 × 19.9 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of the Estate of Katherine S. Dreier

Accession Number

1953.6.76

Geography
Culture
Period

20th century

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Presumed gift of the artist to Katherine S. Dreier, 1947; YUAG, Katherine S. Dreier Bequest, 1953
Bibliography
  • Ivonna Veiherte, Daiga Upeniece, and Peter Weibel, Boris Lurie and NO!art, eds. Ieva Rupenheite and Chris Shultz, exh. cat. (Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia: Latvian National Museum of Art, 2019), 277, fig. 7
  • Frauke V. Josenhans et al., Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2017), 127–28, 145, no. 16, ill.
  • Ruth L. Bohan et al., The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America, ed. Jennifer Gross, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 205, ill.
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

collages

Inscriptions

Inscribed in graphite LL: "Carnival"

Signed

Signed and dated in ink LR: "KS 47 20"

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.