The Hannover Merzbau was full of visual surprises...
The Schwitters scholar Megan Luke first identified the mysterious image which can be seen in the background of a 1930s photograph of the Merzbau. It's a poster by Paul Schuitema, based around Schuitema's own photographic self-portrait, which KS has 'merzed'.
Paul Schuitema (1897-1973) was a Dutch graphic artist. He also designed furniture and expositions and worked as photographer, film director, painter and teacher for publicity design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
After the first World War, Schuitema abandoned painting and embraced early modernism: his interest in mass production and technology lead him to apply the principals of de Stijl, Constructivism and Bauhaus to advertising and print media.
He was a member of Kurt Schwitter's Ring neue Werbegestalter (Circle of New Advertising Designers), which included contemporaries Piet Zwart, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer and Jan Tschichold.
Here are some examples of his excellent photographs and typography:
