Kurt Schwitters was a German artist associated with the Dada movement and Constructivism. He was known for his collages called Merz Pictures, which he created by collecting broken materials from the streets. One of his notable artworks in this style is (Elikan), which he made around 1925.
(Elikan) is an example of Schwitters’ work in the Dada style. The artwork is a collage made up of painted and printed paper fragments layered over one another. The composition is abstract, with no clear representation of recognizable objects, but it features elements such as squares, rectangles, circles, and lines that create a sense of structure.
Schwitters’ art was influenced by Cubist collage techniques that involved constructing images from fragments of reality. In addition to (Elikan), he created other collages that employed this approach, including Merzbild 1A (The Psychiatrist). Schwitters also worked on large-scale projects such as the Hanover Merzbau, a work of art that was destroyed in 1943 during World War II.
Overall, (Elikan) demonstrates Schwitters’ ability to repurpose discarded materials into meaningful works of art within the context of Dadaism’s anti-establishment ideology.
