#156: Kurt Schwitters – From the international avant-garde to exile in Ambleside

...in which dazzling autumn light illuminates a breezy walk between Ambleside and Elterwater in the company of art historian Dr Lizzie Fisher, where we discuss the remarkable life of the groundbreaking 20th-century German artist Kurt Schwitters, who died in exile in the Lake District.

Born in 1887 in Hanover, Lizzie introduces us to the pioneering modern artist, and the wandervogel ‘back to nature’ youth movement that was a reaction against capitalism and industrialisation. Pausing to enjoy views over Fairfield and Wansfell, we consider the scientific and social revolution of the ‘fizzing’ inter-war years and artists’ subversive responses to the rise of national socialism.

Finding himself on the Nazi’s list of degenerate artists, we follow Schwitters as he abandons his first immersive ‘Merzbau’ in flight to Norway and thence to internment on the Isle of Man, where the gregarious creative entertained inmates by crafting porridge towers and howling at the moon.

Introducing Edith ‘Wantee’ Thomas – Schwitters’ latter-day support and companion – we enter the artist’s Lakeland years, highlighting the confident, prolific and underacknowledged second artistic life (540 works in three years) that started when he settled in Ambleside, and the oft-epic walks he undertook as Westmorland became home.

Finally, we learn about the chance encounter that led Schwitters to the Cylinders Estate in Great Langdale, opposite the Langdale Estate – a one-time hangout of intellectuals, bohemians and artists, and his last great, unfinished work, the Merzbarn, in the woods north of Elterwater.

• Dr Lizzie Fisher is a curator and art historian, and principal of Higham Hall College – an educational trust supporting lifelong learning in the arts and humanities through a year-round programme of lectures, events, short residential courses and retreats in the Lake District. www.highamhall.com

• For more about the Cylinders Estate and the Merzbarn as it now is – in the care of the Factum Foundation – see here.

• Part of the Merzbarn’s wall was relocated for preservation to the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle in 1966, where it is on permanent display. For more information visit merzbarn.co.uk

Kurt Schwitters' Merzbarn on the Cylinders Estate, Elterwater.

Mark with our guest for the podcast: academic and curator Dr Lizzie Fisher from Higham Hall.

Trees on the right of the road up from the Rothay Park cattle grid: can you spot the owl?

The light was lovely on the walk over Loughrigg into Great Langdale.

Over the shoulder into Langdale.

All a bit grey approaching Loughrigg Tarn – one of Kurt's favourite places.

One of the hundreds of pieces of art made by Kurt during his Ambleside years: the Langdale Pikes, painted in 1945. Image reproduced by kind permission of/copyright the Kurt & Ernst Schwitters Foundation. 

Letter written by Schwitters to his friend Christian Spengemann, 27 May, 1946. In the letter Kurt writes "Where I am. Here is the Lake District. Between the lakes and the mountains lies Ambleside. In 5 minutes we can be in Rydal Water, in 15 at Elterwater and it is a half hour walk to Loughrigg Tarn. That is my favourite place."

Kurt outside the Merzbarn with fellow German artist-in-exile Hilde Goldschmidt, 1947. Image reproduced by kind permission of/copyright the Kurt & Ernst Schwitters Foundation. 

Outside the shippon in 1946. From left to right: Gwyneth Alban, Edith 'Wantea' Thomas, Jack Cook, Kurt Schwitters, site owner Harry Pierce and Hilde Goldschmidt. Image reproduced by kind permission of/copyright the Kurt & Ernst Schwitters Foundation. 

Plaque on the Merzbarn.

Sculpture from Kurt's time in Ambleside, with teapot fragment, 1945. Image reproduced by kind permission of/copyright the Kurt & Ernst Schwitters Foundation. 

Merzbarn wall – now exhibited in the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle. (c) Hatton Gallery.