Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • Shop
Become a Member
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • Tate Modern
    Tate Modern Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo
Become a Member
  • Art and Artists
  • Tate Archive
  • Collections of Digitised Archive Items
  • Material relating to Kurt Schwitters compiled by his English companion, Mrs Edith ‘Wantee’ Thomas mostly after the artist’s death in 1948
  • Photographs relating to Kurt Schwitters

Material relating to Kurt Schwitters compiled by his English companion, Mrs Edith ‘Wantee’ Thomas mostly after the artist’s death in 1948

1948–91

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Pinterest

Available online are various items selected from the Kurt Schwitters collection featuring writings, correspondence and photographs, particularly relating to Schwitters' relationship with Edith Thomas, and the court case between Edith and Kurt Schwitters' son, Ernst, regarding the division of Schwitters' works following his death. Items from this collection also available online are: private view cards and exhibition catalogues relating to exhibitions featuring Schwitters' work; photographs of Schwitters, and his family and friends; and photographs of his works and locations he visited.

Further details on this collection are available on the archive catalogue.

Collection Owner
Kurt Schwitters 1887–1948
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
Presented by Edith Thomas's son, Geoff Thomas, in 1995.
Reference
TGA 9510

139 objects in this collection

  • Material relating to Kurt Schwitters compiled by his English companion, Mrs Edith ‘Wantee’ Thomas mostly after the artist’s death in 1948

    139 Objects

    • Writings about Schwitters by Edith Thomas

      2 Objects

    • Correspondence and documents relating to the Ernst Schwitters v Edith Thomas court case, 1963

      100 Objects

    • Printed ephemera relating to Kurt Schwitters

      20 Objects

    • Photographs relating to Kurt Schwitters

      17 Objects

Title
Photographs relating to Kurt Schwitters
Date
[1930s–1980s]
Description
Includes photographs of Kurt Schwitters, family and friends, locations and works.
Reference
TGA 9510/5

Showing 17 objects

Photograph of (L-R): Kèate Steinitz, Theo van Doesburg, Kurt Schwitters, and Nelly van Doesburg

Unknown person(s)
[1930s]

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters painting near Djupvassjytta, Norway

Ernst Schwitters
1933

Photograph (close-up) of Kurt Schwitters painting near Djupvassjytta, Norway

Ernst Schwitters
1933

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters in a boat at the foot of a glacier

Ernst Schwitters
1935

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters stepping out of a boat at the foot of a glacier

Ernst Schwitters
1935

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters (looking at a daisy?)

Anonymous
date not known

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters wife, Helma

Anonymous
[1930s]

Photograph of Kurt Schwitters’ mother sitting in a chair listening to the radio

Unknown person(s)
[1930s]

Photograph of [Kurt Schwitters’ mother?]

Ernst Schwitters
[1930s]

Photograph of Gert Strindberg

Ernst Schwitters
[1943–4]

Photograph of an old man and two dogs in a boat on Molde Fjord, Norway

Ernst Schwitters
[1940s]

Photograph of two dogs in a boat on Molde Fjord, Norway

Ernst Schwitters
[1940s]

Photograph of a house beside Molde Fjord, Norway

Ernst Schwitters
[1940s]

Photograph of the exterior, including the blue plaque, of Schwitters’ former home, 39 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London

Edith “Wanty” Thomas
[1970s]

Transparency of Kurt Schwitters’ memorial stone, Ambleside, Cumbria

Edith “Wanty” Thomas
[1980s]

Photograph of the site of Jack Bilbo’s gallery during the war years (King Charles II Street, Haymarket) where Schwitters had his first exhibition in London

Edith “Wanty” Thomas
[1980s]

Photograph of a student beside Schwitters’ Merzbarn wall, Cylinders, Cumbria

Edith “Wanty” Thomas
1963
Artwork
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved