George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining. ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... The New Objectivity, or neue Sachlichkeit (new matter-of-factness), was an art movement which arose in Germany during the 1920s as an outgrowth of, and in opposition to, expressionism. ...

Biography

George Grosz was born Georg Ehrenfried Groß in Berlin, Germany but changed his name in 1916 out of an enthusiasm for America.^[1] (His artist friend and collaborator Helmut Herzfeld changed his name to John Heartfield at the same time.) Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. ... Self-portrait, 1920 Translation: Der Sinn des Hitlergrusses The real meaning of the Hitler salute Kleiner Mann bittet um grosse Gaben The little man asks for big gifts Millionen stehen hinter mir! Ive got millions standing behind me John Heartfield (June 19, 1891 - April 26, 1968) is the anglicized...

In 1914 Grosz voluntered for military service; like many other artists, he embraced the first world war as "the war to end all wars", but he was quickly disillusioned and was given a discharge after hospitalization in 1915. In January 1917 he was drafted for service, but in May he was discharged as permanently unfit.^[2]

Grosz was arrested during the Spartakus uprising in January 1919, but escaped using fake identification documents; he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in the same year. In 1921 Grosz was accused of insulting the army, which resulted in a 300 German Mark fine and the destruction of the collection Gott mit uns ("God with us"), a satire on German society. Grosz left the KPD in 1922 after having spent five months in Russia and meeting Lenin and Trotsky, because of his antagonism to any form of dictatorial authority. The Spartacist League (Spartakusbund in German) was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during and just after the politically volatile years of World War I. It was founded by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (nicknamed Red Rosa) along with others such as Clara Zetkin. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1932 KPD poster, End This System The Communist Party of Germany (German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Reichswehr (help· info) (literally National Defense or Imperial Defense) formed the military organization of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force). ... The Deutsche Mark (DM, DEM) was the official currency of West and, from 1990, unified Germany. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a... 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (&#1051...

In his drawings, usually in pen and ink which he sometimes developed further with watercolor, Grosz did much to create the image most have of Berlin and the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. Corpulent businessmen, wounded soldiers, prostitutes, sex crimes and orgies were his great subjects. His draftsmanship was excellent although the works he is best known for adopt a deliberately crude form of caricature. His oeuvre includes a few absurdist works, such as "Remember Uncle August the Happy Inventor" which has buttons sewn on it (see it here), and also includes erotica, such as [1] these drawings in the World Museum of Erotic Art. Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. ... Anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen The Länder of Germany during the Weimar Republic, with the Free State of Prussia (Freistaat Preußen) as the largest   Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1919-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann  - 1933 Adolf Hitler... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...

Bitterly anti-Nazi, Grosz left Germany in 1932 and was invited to teach at the Art Students' League in New York in 1933. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1938. Although a softening of his style had been apparent since the late 1920s, Grosz's work turned toward a sentimental romanticism in America, a change generally seen as a decline. 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... The Art Students League is the name of several American art schools or associations for promotion of art education For the New-York-based school (founded 1875), presumed model for the others, see Art Students League of New York For the Denver-based school and association, see Art Students League... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Naturalization is the process whereby a person becomes a national of a nation, or a citizen of a country, other than the one of his birth. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ...

He painted Cain, or Hitler in Hell in 1944 showing the dead attacking Hitler in Hell. During this period he also worked as Artist in Residence at the Des Moines Art Center. Even though he had American citizenship, he returned to Germany in 1959 where he died on July 6 of that year from the effects of a night of drinking. 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ...

In 1960, Grosz was the subject of the Oscar-nominated short film George Grosz' Interregnum. George Grosz Inerregnum is a 29-minute long documentary film about the artist George Grosz. ...

Quotes

• A deeply disillusioned man, he saw humanity as essentially bestial and the city of Berlin as a sink of depravity and deprivation, its streets crowded with unprincipled profiteers, prostitutes, war-crippled dregs and a variety of peverts. A communist, his feeling of social outrage stimulated him to produce the most biting drawings and paintings. -- Trewin Copplestone

• In Grosz's Germany, everything and everybody is for sale. All human transactions, except for the class solidarity of the workers, are poisoned. The world is owned by four breeds of pig: the capitalist, the officer, the priest and the hooker, whose other form is the sociable wife. He was one of the hanging judges of art. -- Robert Hughes

• My aim is to be understood by everyone. I reject the 'depth' that people demand nowadays, into which you can never descend without a diving bell crammed with cabbalistic bullshit and intellectual metaphysics. This expressionistic anarchy has got to stop... a day will come when the artist will no longer be this bohemian, puffed-up anarchist but a healthy man working in clarity within a collectivist society. -- Grosz

Footnotes

References

• Grosz, George (1946). A Little Yes and a Big No. New York: The Dial Press.
• Michalski, Sergiusz (1994). New Objectivity. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-9650-0
• Sabarsky, Serge, editor (1985). George Grosz: The Berlin Years. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-0668-5

External links

• http://rturner.uttx.net/grosz/index.html - brief biography and pictures
• http://www.tendreams.org/grosz.htm - Ten Dreams Galleries