A few years ago I sated my interest in art when reading a small
column-filler in a newspaper about the German artist Kurt Schwitters.
His art piece Ja Was Bild had sold
at Christie's in London for £13.9 million! I didn’t know him that well but knew
he was a heavy influence to many artists since. More interestingly I read he had
been buried for years in a quaint churchyard in the Lake District. On a long
weekend up there I went to find him.
Kurt
was born in Hanover to affluent parents. No matter how comfortable life was
they couldn’t stop their son having an epileptic seizure at 20 years old (this exempted
him from fighting in World War I.) After studying art at the Dresden Academy he
started his career as a post-impressionist painter - as you can when your
parents are well off. Aged 24 he had his first exhibition He did some normal
work though - 18 months as a draftsman in a factory just outside Hanover.
He
married his cousin Helma aged 18 and they had two
sons (the first one died within a week of birth.) By 32 he was famous and part
of the international avant-garde artists.
So
how did he end up in England? When a man moves to another a country it usually one
of the “w”s – work, woman or war. In this case it was
the last one. As the Nazis controlled Germany Kurt was “wanted for an
interview." He fled to Norway to join his son Ernst (who had already fled
Germany) but his wife decided to remain in Hanover to manage their four
properties. She visited Kurt in Norway for a few months each year up to the
outbreak of World War II. They had a joint celebration for his mother’s 80th birthday
and his son Ernst's engagement on 2nd June 1939 but it would be the last time
the two met.
When
the Nazis invaded Norway Kurt fled again to Leith in Scotland with his son and
daughter-in-law. Aged 53 he lived between various internment camps one being in
Isle of Man. There were about 1200 Germans or Austrians some who were a heady
mix of artists, writers, university professors and other intellectuals. Kurt
was produced over 200 works during his internment and even wrote for the camp
newsletter “The Camp.” Art supplies were scarce and he would mix brick dust
with sardine oil for paint, dig up clay when out on walks for sculpture and rip
up the lino floors to make linocut prints.
Oddly
his epileptic seizures starts again after about three decades. He applied for
release from the camp and got it. He moved to Paddington, London where he met
his future companion, Edith Thomas (27, half his age.)
Aged
56 in 1944 he showed 45 works in a solo exhibition at The Modern Art Gallery in
December 1944. Only one sold. It was tough time: he heard his wife had died and
suffered his first stroke and was temporarily paralysed on one side of his
body.
He
ended up in the Lake District as he went there on holiday with Edith in
September 1942. He liked it so much he moved to Ambleside but suffered a second
stroke. You may think Edith was with him Kurt for his wallet but he was almost
penniless and was forced to paint portraits and landscape pictures to sell
locally.
On
7th January 1948 he received the news that he had been granted British
citizenship. The following day he died from heart failure in Kendal Hospital. He
was buried here in an unmarked grave behind St. Mary's
Church in Ambleside. In 1966 a stone was erected but in 1970 he was dug up and
re-buried in Hanover.
Looking looking
at the rear of the church…
Found you…
Kurt with Edith…
Not a bad view of the church, Kurt…
Kurt was reburied in Germany…
Sold for £13.9 million in 2014