{"product_id":"looking-for-mr-schwitters-9781915068644","title":"Looking for Mr Schwitters","description":"\u003cp\u003eJennifer Potter's new book\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eresurrects the pivotal artist Kurt Schwitters and places him firmly in The Lake\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistrict, where he lived as a penniless refugee in the years after the Second\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorld War. Derided as a 'degenerate artist' by the Nazis he fled Germany for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNorway and then Britain, where he was interned as an 'enemy alien.' At the end\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof the war he travelled to the Lakes with his young English girlfriend. Renowned\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efor incorporating found objects and rubbish into his art, Schwitters let the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003espirit of the Lakes creep into his work, dashing off a stream of collages,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esculptures, landscapes, portraits, flowers, abstracts and assemblages, which he\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esold or bartered for essentials. Just months before his pauper's death in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKendal, he embarked upon his last masterpiece, never finished, a walk-in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esculpture magicked from a disused barn in the Langdale Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePotter adopts a thread of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ememory and personal connections to tell a wider story about the process of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emaking, and seeing, art. She turned Schwitters into one of the foundational\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emyths of her life as a writer. But how true are her memories? Why did this long\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edead emigre artist take control of her imagination? And what can he tell\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eher about the place she looks on as home? Looking for Mr Schwitters is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003enot a biography, nor an art book, nor a memoir, but occupies a beguiling space\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebetween these genres, a book in its own class. Rigorously researched but\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewritten for the general reader this new book shines a light on the artist's\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efinal years and reclaims his rightful place in the history of modern art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLooking for Mr Schwitters includes black and white images, a full colour section of Kurt Schwitters' art and a photo essay by Rob Petit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Jennifer Potter\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eCumbria \u0026amp; Lake District, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Individual artists, art monographs, Biography: arts \u0026amp; entertainment, Memoirs\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 4 Jun 2026 by Little Toller Books.\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Jennifer Potter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57319540818298,"sku":"9781915068644","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0373\/4125\/files\/9781915068644.jpg?v=1790630949","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.co.uk\/pl\/products\/looking-for-mr-schwitters-9781915068644","provider":"Belfast Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}