Kurt Schwitters Free Spirit

About the Book

The book gives a flavour of what the German artist/poet, Kurt Schwitters, achieved in his lifetime and what he meant to the people of the English Lake District and the wider world.

Born in Hanover in 1887, Schwitters fled Germany in 1937, going first to Norway, then to Britain, where he was interned for a year and a half as 'an enemy alien'. He was discharged from the Hutchinson Square Internment Camp on the Isle of Man in 1941 and lived for a time in London, where he forged links with a group of surrealist artists and poets many of whom were fellow fugitives from the Nazis. In London he was rebuffed by Kenneth Clarke, was refused work as a window dresser by Selfridges and met the teenage Jazz musician, George Melly. Together with his companion, Edith Thomas, he settled in Ambleside in the English Lake District in 1945 where he died in 948.

Famed for an innovative Dada 'Merzbau', created within his house in Hanover, Schwitters began a second Merzbau in Norway but was forced to abandon the work when he fled to Britain. Both works were subsequently destroyed.

In Ambleside he painted landscapes for tourists, portraits for 'locals' and collages for himself. He also began another Merzbau in a barn at Elterwater near Ambleside. But Schwitters died before the Merzbarn was finished; the work was removed to the Hatton Gallery at Newcastle University in the 1960Õs where it can be seen today.

Schwitters is known as 'the creator of Merz' (his own form of Dadaist art) and for his saying, 'I have so little time'. His Dadaist poem, 'an Anna Blume', won him international fame in the 1920's. He was a prolific writer.

This book seeks to express, in layman's terms and simple language, something of what Kurt Schwitters achieved in his lifetime. It is a 'Merz' book; it throws together words/articles/quotes/opinions and transforms them into a printed/written collage.

It is an essential handbook for the 'man in the street'.

About the Author

Robin Martakies was born in Bristol in 1945. At school he was a friend of the artist, Richard Long.

He obtained a BA Honours degree at Cheltenham & Gloucester College (now the University of Gloucestershire).

Robin has devoted much time to studying the life and works of Kurt Schwitters and the Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He much admires the work of John Ruskin.

Presently working as Head of Media & Public Affairs, for Windermere Lake Cruises Ltd., one of the largest tourist attractions in England, he spent thirteen enjoyable years as Clerk to Lakes Parish Council before taking early retirement in 2002.

Robin moved to Coniston, in the Lake District, in 1983, then to Ambleside in 1987, where he lives with his wife, Mary, who he married in 1966. His daughter, Sarah, and grandchildren, Lewis, Beth and Morgan, live on Walney Island at nearby Barrow-in-Furness.

Robin is a great speedway and football fan. He will shortly be publishing a book of poetry.