1926, Nuremberg, Germany–2017, London, England

Immigrated to the UK in 1939

Metzger was born in Germany to Polish parents and arrived in the UK in 1939 via the Kindertransport. He later became stateless after losing his Polish citizenship. This condition shaped both his art and activism and underpinned what he became known for: auto-destructive art. Continuing the legacy of Dada as a response to the absurdity of the First World War, auto- destructive art confronted the violence of the industrial-military complex by casting the artist as destructor rather than creator.

The vitrine contains archival material related to the development of auto-destructive art and a number of DIAS (Destruction in Art Symposium) events organised by Metzger together with the itinerant Irish artist John Sharkey. For avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements, the textual manifesto, an example of which is shown here, became an instantly recognisable visual form.

William Allen Collection