拍品专文
Ralph Jentsch has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
In the introduction to his book of drawings entitled Der Spiesser-Spiegel, George Grosz wrote: ‘I consider drawing a good tool in the struggle against today’s current version of the Middle Ages […] It is true, life would be without sense or purpose were it not to gain a meaning through the struggle against the stupidity and arbitrary brutality of the men in power.’
In the gruesome years of aftermath following the First World War, Grosz directed his anger repeatedly at those he thought responsible for the catastrophe. Among these were the military, the government and in particular at the industrialist war profiteers who Grosz recognized were still finding profit among others’ misery. Prosperität - Schlemmer is a work that depicts the war profiteer par excellence. In a post-war era of great misery and privation, a whole roast chicken sits on this well-dressed gentleman’s plate ready to be eaten. This feast will be washed down with wine and champagne.
Every so often the question is asked, ‘How is it possible that Hitler could come to power and the horrors of the Third Reich take place in a civilized ‘nation of writers and thinkers’ such as Germany? The widespread support that the Nazi movement received was not simply founded on its primitive and arrogant ideology about the Herrenrasse. The concept of ‘Deutschland über alles’ (‘Germany above all’) had been around in Germany for a long time. The simple opportunity to secure a quick profit or an advantage and the ability to gain privilege, pomp or power was enough in itself for many people to offer their support to the Nazis.
Even before the end of the First World War, Grosz had planned a large three-volume work of drawings entitled ‘The Ugliness of the Germans’. As the title of this prospective work reveals, it was the nature of Grosz’s work to unmask his contemporaries and lay bare the beasts lying within. Prosperität is such a work. This stately gentleman is a member of the upper class. Well-fed, meticulously dressed, with gold rings on his fingers, diamond-studded cufflinks and a monocle in his eye, he epitomises the German ruling class. He is not merely a repellent gourmand, however, he is also a dangerous creature.
Grosz’s statement in his introduction to Der Spiesser-Spiegel remains as true today as it was when it was written.
Ralph Jentsch
In the introduction to his book of drawings entitled Der Spiesser-Spiegel, George Grosz wrote: ‘I consider drawing a good tool in the struggle against today’s current version of the Middle Ages […] It is true, life would be without sense or purpose were it not to gain a meaning through the struggle against the stupidity and arbitrary brutality of the men in power.’
In the gruesome years of aftermath following the First World War, Grosz directed his anger repeatedly at those he thought responsible for the catastrophe. Among these were the military, the government and in particular at the industrialist war profiteers who Grosz recognized were still finding profit among others’ misery. Prosperität - Schlemmer is a work that depicts the war profiteer par excellence. In a post-war era of great misery and privation, a whole roast chicken sits on this well-dressed gentleman’s plate ready to be eaten. This feast will be washed down with wine and champagne.
Every so often the question is asked, ‘How is it possible that Hitler could come to power and the horrors of the Third Reich take place in a civilized ‘nation of writers and thinkers’ such as Germany? The widespread support that the Nazi movement received was not simply founded on its primitive and arrogant ideology about the Herrenrasse. The concept of ‘Deutschland über alles’ (‘Germany above all’) had been around in Germany for a long time. The simple opportunity to secure a quick profit or an advantage and the ability to gain privilege, pomp or power was enough in itself for many people to offer their support to the Nazis.
Even before the end of the First World War, Grosz had planned a large three-volume work of drawings entitled ‘The Ugliness of the Germans’. As the title of this prospective work reveals, it was the nature of Grosz’s work to unmask his contemporaries and lay bare the beasts lying within. Prosperität is such a work. This stately gentleman is a member of the upper class. Well-fed, meticulously dressed, with gold rings on his fingers, diamond-studded cufflinks and a monocle in his eye, he epitomises the German ruling class. He is not merely a repellent gourmand, however, he is also a dangerous creature.
Grosz’s statement in his introduction to Der Spiesser-Spiegel remains as true today as it was when it was written.
Ralph Jentsch