GEORGE GROSZ (German-American 1893-1959)

Description

GEORGE GROSZ (German-American 1893-1959)
Elsa Rat Mit Promenadenkleid, c.1922-23
Ink and watercolor on paper
15.5in. x10.5in. (sight size)
Stamped upper right: George Grosz, Berlin

George Grosz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1910, and studied at the Dresden Academy of Art. In 1912, he attended the School of Applied Arts in Berlin, and studied with Emil Orlik. Grosz served in the German army during World War I, where he was court-martialed for insubordination. From 1918 to 1932, he lived in Berlin, and was one of the founders of the Dada movement. At this time, Grosz styled himself as an American, much to the dismay of his left-wing friends. His biting satirical art forewarned the danger of the control of German industry over politics, as well as the potentially disastrous results of enforced, excessive patriotism. Reaction to Grosz's satirical drawings caused him to flee Germany, and in 1932, he traveled to New York City where he was a guest instructor for two terms at the Art Students League. He then became a United States citizen, moving his family to Long Island. In 1937, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship; and in 1941, the Museum of Modern Art circulated a traveling exhibition of his work. After the age of 40, Grosz turned his work away from the avant-garde towards allegorical themes using cavorting nudes. He also opened an art school with Maurice Sterne and did opera stage designs. Grosz had an open dislike for French modernism and was disdainful of the emerging Abstract Expressionism. On the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth, in 1993, a major retrospective of Grosz's work was held at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlit and included over 300 paintings, drawings and watercolors. This work's caption could be roughly translated into English as, Elsa Rat wearing her Sunday best.

Keywords: ink, drawing, watercolor, cartoon, satire

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