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Plan of Love

1919 and 1923
Not on view
Following World War I, Schwitters, who was associated with the Dada movement, coined the term "Merz" to describe his enduring ambition to unify art and life. In this Merzbild, or Merz picture, Schwitters combined seemingly worthless debris—advertisements, newspaper scraps, diagrams—into an ordered composition set within a handmade frame. Close inspection of the collaged materials reveals maps, a listing for a doctor of venereal disease, and the German phrase that gives the work its title: "Plan der Liebe," or "Plan of Love."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Plan of Love
  • Artist: Kurt Schwitters (German, Hanover 1887–1948 Kendal)
  • Date: 1919 and 1923
  • Medium: Cut and torn pasted papers, cellophane, opaque matte paint, and torn fabric with nails, black ink, and graphite mounted on illustration and paper boards, in artist's frame
  • Dimensions: 17 × 13 in. (43.2 × 33 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
  • Object Number: 2006.32.57
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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The Gathering of the Witches in the Prado of Berroscoberro, José Luis Cuevas Mexican, Brush and pen and black inks, watercolor, colored pencil, marker, and graphite on various papers and books on boards, metal paper covered tube, etching plate, and wood frame with nails, tacks, a metal clip, and a purple ribbon, mounted in an open portfolio case
The Gathering of the Witches in the Prado of Berroscoberro
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Pinc, Kurt Schwitters German, Cut and torn pasted papers, printed papers, and fabric with graphite and ink on paper mounted on paper
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Armor, Steel, leather, German, possibly Lower Saxony
Armor
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