George Grosz was a principle member of Neue Sachlichkeit, or ‘New Objectivity’, a collective of artists disillusioned by the ravages that World War I took on society and its people. They abandoned the idealism of 20th-century art in favour of using pictures to critique contemporary German culture. Drawing on caricature, satire and Surrealism, Grosz portrayed the leaders, bohemians and labourers of the Weimar Republic unflinchingly in order to highlight the turmoil of political life, the rise of the metropolis, sexual liberation, the decay of society and alienation from nature. ‘Brutality! Clarity that hurts!... Paint as fast as you can! Capture time as it races by,’ he said.
Born in Berlin in 1893, Grosz studied art in Dresden and Berlin between 1909 and 1914. During his teens he began making observational sketches of the fantastical and the macabre, including prostitutes and circus workers. After college Grosz joined the army, but was discharged after six months due to a sinus infection. Recalled in 1917, he suffered a breakdown and was admitted to an asylum.
Scarred by the horrors he had witnessed, Grosz’s art became explicit in its shock and disgust, and he aspired to become Germany’s leading satirist, inspired by Honoré Daumier and William Hogarth. One French critic labelled his output, ‘the most definitive catalogue of man’s depravity in all history.’
By 1919, Grosz had joined the fledgling Dada movement in Berlin, on account of their belief in the absurdity of war. He exhibited pioneering photomontages that doubled as left-wing propaganda, causing him frequent trouble with the authorities. During the 1920s he became a leader of Neue Sachlichkeit, creating works like Eclipse of the Sun (1926), in which headless bureaucrats debate the future of the German people.
A week before Hitler seized power in 1933, Grosz permanently relocated to New York City. To the Nazi party, his work was highly offensive — they labelled him ‘Cultural Bolshevist Number One’ and included his pictures in a show of ‘degenerate’ art held in Munich in 1937.
In America Grosz held a number of teaching positions. During the 1940s he abandoned misanthropic motifs in favour of more sentimental topics, including nudes and landscapes. In 1959, during a return visit to West Berlin, he fell down the stairs following a night of drinking and died shortly after, aged 65.
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Woman Undressing
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Grill-Oyster Bar, New York
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Gefährliche Straße
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Der neue Mensch
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Zwei Frauen
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Orgie
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Orgie
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Promenade, Berlin ( recto ); Caféhausszene ( verso )
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Die amerikanische Dingobar in Paris
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Berliner Strassenszene
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Amor Lichtspiele
George Grosz (1893-1959)
New York Harbor
George Grosz (1893-1959)
New York Harbor
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Myself and the Barroom Mirror
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Junger Knabe
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Die guten Jahre
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Ehepaar
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Der Kunsthändler
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Bettler, Berlin
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Menschen (Promenade)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt (Diese Kriegsverletzten)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Der Weg allen Fleisches II
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Dämmerung (Draussen) ( recto ); Dämmerung (Drinnen) ( verso )
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Feste Grundsätze
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Der neue Reichstag zieht ein
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Verwaltungsoffizier (Unsere Zukunft liegt in der Aktenmappe)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Nightmare
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Gesellschaft
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Tauwetter
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Evening Paper, Daily Mirror
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Self Portrait with Brush
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Schlangenhaut und Pantinen
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Liebespaar, Der Weg allen Fleisches
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Blue Sky (Manhattan Skyline)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Land Urlaub
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Handgemenge
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
The Poor and the Rich
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Gelungener Abend
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Cape Cod Landscape
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Marching Stickmen
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Woman with Hat
GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Broadway (recto); Havana cigars (verso)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Die von der liebe Leben
George Grosz (1883-1959)
Republikanischer Bahnhof
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Posperität - Schlemmer ( Prosperity - The Glutton ; recto) Ruhraufstand ( Ruhr Uprising ; verso)
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Posh Couple
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Street Fight
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Brooklyn Bridge and Skyline New York
George Grosz (1893-1959)
Strassenszene, Berlin Hausmädchen