Little Dance

About the Artwork

With collages of densely interwoven scraps of paper gleaned from daily life, Schwitters produced dynamic compositions in which the interaction of the materials becomes a kind of dance. Notice here the way the color red "dances" among the subdued tones of white, gray, and ochre.

Inscriptions

SECONDARY SUPPORT, signed, lower right, in graphite: Kurt Schwitters 1920 ; by artist, lower left, in graphite: Mz. 65. / Kleiner Tanz. ; lower left, in graphite: 1967 ; VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, by artist, in top half: Kurt Schwitters / Hannover / [Waldmansustr?] 5II [II in superscript] ; upper left, in graphite: VI [underlined] 3 ; across center, in graphite: H__34201/VdMERZ/ ; upper right, in graphite: [paritally erased, illegible] ; lower right, in graphite: [partially erased, illegible] / [partially erased, illegible] ; lower right, in graphite: OUTSIDE O[N] / BACK / Janis

Provenance

[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York]

Exhibition history

Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). Space and Modern Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9-September 25, 1966). Kurt Schwitters and Related Developments. La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA (organizer) (March 9-May 6, 1973). Cross Section: Graphic Art in Germany after the First World War. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 10, 1989-January 7, 1990). Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991). The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006). Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).

Quick Overview

Artist: Kurt Schwitters (German, 1887–1948)
Date: 1920
Medium: collage
Dimensions: Sheet: 13.1 x 10.4 cm (5 3/16 x 4 1/8 in.); Mounted: 23 x 17 cm (9 1/16 x 6 11/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession no.: 1963.1

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.