12. “Kurt Schwitters: A Selection of Collages” at Nahmad Contemporary
Nahmad Contemporary presents a selection of Kurt Schwitters’s abstract collages made between the 1920s and ’40s, often using materials salvaged from the garbage. As Dadaism swept Europe, Schwitters sought to establish a style all his own. “I called Merz this new process whose principle was the use of any material,” the artist later explained. “It was the second syllable of Kommerz. It first appeared in Merzbild, a painting in which, apart from its abstract forms, one could read ‘Merz,’ cut and pasted from an advertisement for Kommerz- und Privatbank. … I was looking for a term to designate this new genre, for I could not classify my paintings under old labels such as expressionism, cubism, futurism and so on.”
Location: Nahmad Contemporary, 980 Madison Avenue, Third Floor
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone