These included
socks of Moholy-Nagy stolen as he slept, a lock of Hans
Richter's hair obtained in the same way.Others honoured
in this way were Mies van der Rohe, Mondrian, Arp and
Lissitzky.
Among the
grottos we know existed were: the Goethe cave, the Nibelungen
cave, there were caves of murderers, deprecated heroes,
hero worship and friendship. As the merzbau developed
grottos were often covered by the geometric facade. Some
were locked in permanently while others were accessible
through doors or hatches.
The Merzbau
continued to grow as Schwitters worked on it until December
1936 when he fled the Nazis. When it was left he said
it was unfinished and that in principle it could continue
indefinitely. Schwitters never returned to Germany and
the Merzbau was destroyed in a bombing raid on the night
of October 8-9th 1943.
Schwitters
worked on the Merzbau for thirteen years. In that time
it moved from a dadaist starting point to, stylistically,
a constructivist conclusion. It can not be considered
only as a finished work of art, the process is obviously
crucial too.
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