Editing Kurt Schwitters (section)

===''Merz'' (periodical)===

As the political climate in Germany became more liberal and stable, Schwitters's work became less influenced by [[Cubism]] and Expressionism. He started to organize and participate in lecture tours with other members of the international avant-garde, such as Jean Arp, Raoul Hausmann and Tristan Tzara, touring Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and Germany with provocative evening recitals and lectures.

Schwitters published a periodical, also titled ''Merz'', between 1923 and 1932, in which each issue was devoted to a central theme. ''Merz 5'' 1923, for instance, was a portfolio of prints by Jean Arp, ''Merz 8/9'', 1924, was edited and typeset by [[El Lissitzky]], ''Merz 14/15'', 1925, was a typographical children's story entitled ''The Scarecrow'' by Schwitters, Kätte Steinitz and Theo van Doesburg. The last edition, ''Merz 24'', 1932, was a complete transcription of the final draft of the ''Ursonate'', with typography by Jan Tschichold.<ref>For a more detailed overview of the Merz journals, see Roger Cardinal and Gwendolen Webster, ''Kurt Schwitters'', Hatje Cantz 2011, pp. 132–135.</ref>

His work in this period became increasingly [[Modernist]] in spirit, with far less overtly political context and a cleaner style, in keeping with contemporary work by Jean Arp and [[Piet Mondrian]]. His friendship around this time with El Lissitzky proved particularly influential, and ''Merz'' pictures in this period show the direct influence of [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]].

Thanks to Schwitters's lifelong patron and friend [[Katherine Dreier]], his work was exhibited regularly in the US from 1920 onwards. In the late 1920s he became a well-known typographer; his best-known work was the catalogue for the Dammerstocksiedlung in [[Karlsruhe]]. After the demise of the Der Sturm gallery in 1924 he ran an advertising agency named Merzwerbe, which held the accounts for [[Pelikan]] inks and [[Bahlsen]] biscuits, amongst others, and became the official typographer for Hanover town council between 1929 and 1934.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T076954?q=schwitters&hbutton_search.x=26&hbutton_search.y=8&hbutton_search=search&source=oao_gao&source=oao_t118&source=oao_t234&source=oao_t4&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|title=Oxford Art Online, Subscription Only|access-date=16 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510223455/https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000076954?_start=1&hbutton_search=search&hbutton_search.x=26&hbutton_search.y=8&pos=1&q=schwitters&search=quick&source=oao_gao#firsthit|archive-date=10 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of these designs, as well as test prints and proof sheets, were to crop up in contemporary Merz pictures.<ref>See Roger Cardinal and Gwendolen Webster, Kurt Schwitters, Hatje Cantz 2011, p 136-9.</ref> In a manner similar to the typographic experimentation by [[Herbert Bayer]] at the [[Bauhaus]], and [[Jan Tschichold]]'s ''Die neue Typographie'', Schwitters experimented with the creation of a new more phonetic alphabet in 1927. Some of his types were cast and used in his work.<ref>A digital revival of Schwitters's 1927 Systemschrift typeface called [[Architype Schwitters]] was released in 1997.</ref> In the late 1920s Schwitters joined the [[Deutscher Werkbund]] (German Work Federation).