Tuesday, April 28, 2009
My Dada, Jack the Ripper
The Guardian has a story about Kurt Schwitters, a Dadaist in the early 20th century. One of his pieces of art depicted Prince Albert Victor in satirical fashion. A passage from the story reads:
What's interesting is that this story alludes to Eddy being a suspect in the Ripper killings back in the 40s, whereas a lot of people think the full-fledged interest in him as a suspect began with Dr. Stowell and Colin Wilson in the 70s.
In the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, there is a cheekily doctored portrait of King Edward's eldest son, Prince Albert Victor. Half of his mustachioed face has been blacked out, and a razor blade has been glued across his chest in a reference to the (discredited) claims that the prince was Jack the Ripper. It looks like a piece of pop art, not unlike the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper LP, and so the date comes as a shock: 1947. A scrawl explains that this used to be a portrait of HRH, adding: "Now it is a Merz picture. Sorry!"
What's interesting is that this story alludes to Eddy being a suspect in the Ripper killings back in the 40s, whereas a lot of people think the full-fledged interest in him as a suspect began with Dr. Stowell and Colin Wilson in the 70s.
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