Kurt Schwitters at the Armitt 3

KS painted this portrait of Bill Pierce, one of Harry’s sons in RAF battledress. Bill appears in the famous photograph of KS, Bill and Wantee at Cylinders Farm on KS’ 60th birthday.

Newspaper collage on rear of Bill Pierce portrait:

The newspaper collage on the rear of the Bill Pierce portrait has yet to be studied but is by far the largest and in the best condition of any of the Ernst Schwitters newspaper "collages". It has a scrap of paper added to the collage, signed by KS, but not to authenticate the portrait, which is signed KS 47 on the front in his typical vermillion initials.

1948 was a tragic year all round. Not only did Kurt Schwitters die on 1st January, but with the loss of Ida in 1948, Harry Pierce died in 1948, as did his son Bill after a motorbike accident. Bill's other son Johnny was an RAF pilot and was killed on his first raid over Germany.

“rots allt!” Newspaper "collage" on rear of Dr Johnston—1943—The Armitt Collection.

Little is known about the newspaper collage (on the rear of Dr Johnston) and we have discovered two others in the course of this exhibition. One is on the reverse of the portrait of Willow Rothwell, in poor condition. The other is on the reverse of the portrait of Harry Pierce and is the largest and in the best condition.

Initially it was believed that the collages were by KS, but, thanks to the Sprengel Museum, we now know that they were made by Ernst Schwitters during his work in London with the Norwegian Government in exile. Ernst went back to Norway at the end of the war and KS brought the boards to Ambleside and reused them in portrait painting.