Theo van Doesburg, Kurt Schwitters. Kleine Dada Soirée. 1922

Theo van Doesburg with Kurt Schwitters Kleine Dada Soirée 1922

  • Not on view

Schwitters and the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg embarked on a tour of Holland to introduce Dada to local artists and the public through lectures and performances. Van Doesburg’s pamphlet "Wat is Dada?" was for sale at the close of each stop. The poster for the Small Dada Evening includes the event program, which lists ragtime music by the composer Erik Satie, abstract poetry by Schwitters, and "Dadasofie" by Doesburg. The poster is decorated with multi-lingual slogans including: "Dada est contre le futur, Dada est mort, Dada est idiot, vive Dada!" ("Dada is against the future, Dada is dead, Dada is idiotic, Long live Dada!")

Gallery label from Dada, June 18–September 11, 2006.
Additional text

This mulit-lingual poster includes the event program, which lists ragtime music by the composer Erik Satie, abstract poetry by Schwitters, and "Dadasofie" by Doesburg.

Gallery label from Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye, November 15, 2014–January 17, 2016.
Collaborating artist
Kurt Schwitters
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
11 7/8 x 11 7/8" (30.2 x 30.2 cm)
Credit
Gift of Philip Johnson
Object number
178.1945
Department
Architecture and Design

Installation views

We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.
How we identified these works

In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research-and-learning/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].