Grosz, George (1893–1959). German-born painter and draughtsman who became an American citizen in 1938. He was born in Berlin and studied drawing at the Dresden Academy, 1909–11, and the School of Arts and Crafts, Berlin, 1912–14. In 1914 he enlisted in the army, but he was discharged on medical grounds the following year (he was called up again in 1917, but again discharged as unfit). The war instilled in him a hatred of the Prussian military caste, which he attacked mercilessly in his work—the most famous of the satirical anti-war illustrations he made at this time is the drawing Fit for Active Service (MOMA, New York, 1918), in which a fat, complacent doctor pronounces a skeleton fit for duty. In 1917, with Heartfield, he anglicized his name (adding an ‘e’ to Georg) as a protest against the hatred being whipped up against the enemy, and he became overwhelmed with loathing for his countrymen: ‘To be German means invariably to be crude, stupid, ugly, fat and inflexible—it means being unable to climb a ladder at forty, to be badly dressed—to be a German means to be a reactionary of the worst kind; it means only one amongst a hundred will, occasionally, wash all over.’

From 1917 to 1920 Grosz was a prominent figure in the Dada movement in Berlin, and in the 1920s, with Dix, he became the leading exponent of the Neue Sachlichkeit. In 1917 he published the first of several collections of drawings, through which he established an international reputation. The most famous are Das Geschicht der herrschenden Klasse (‘The Face of the Ruling Class', 1921) and Ecce Homo (1927). In these and in his paintings he ruthlessly denounced a decaying society in which gluttony and depraved sensuality are placed beside poverty and disease; prostitutes and profiteers were frequently among his cast of characters. Grosz often used watercolour, and in spite of the nastiness of the subject-matter and the bluntness of his satire, his works in this medium are remarkable for the sheer beauty and delicacy of their technique. His more conventional works of this time include a number of portraits, of which the best known is probably that of the poet Max Hermann-Neisse (Kunsthalle, Mannheim, 1925), which rivals Dix's portraits in incisiveness.

Grosz was prosecuted several times for obscenity and blasphemy, and in 1933, despairing of the political situation in Germany, he moved to the USA to take up the offer of a teaching post at the Art Students League of New York. (He had joined the Communist Party in 1918 and after he left Germany he was described as ‘Cultural Bolshevist Number One'.) In America Grosz largely abandoned his satirical manner for more romantic landscapes and still-lifes, with from time to time apocalyptic visions of a nightmare future. Although he won several honours in the last decade of his life, he regarded himself as a failure because he was unable to win recognition as a serious painter rather than a brilliant satirist, and he painted several self-portraits showing how isolated and depressed he was in his adopted country (The Wanderer, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York, 1943). His autobiography, A Little Yes and a Big No, was published in New York in 1946. He returned to Berlin in 1959, saying ‘my American dream turned out to be a soap bubble', and died there shortly after his arrival following a fall down a flight of stairs.

George Grosz

The German painter and graphic artist George Grosz (1893-1959) was the most outstanding caricaturist and political satirist of the period after World War I.

George Grosz was born on July 26, 1893, in Berlin. He studied at the art academies of Dresden (1909) and Berlin (1911) and visited Paris (1913). He started his career as a cartoonist for humoristic reviews such as Ulk and Lustige Blätter; his concern for the actualities of the day was even then predominant.

During World War I Grosz was an infantryman in the German army. About 1916 he began to portray with biting satire the militarism and ruthlessness of the ruling classes. In Berlin in 1917 he joined the Dada movement, which was essentially a protest against war and exploitation and a call for a new humanism. By 1918 he was acknowledged as Germany's leading social critic in the field of the visual arts, whose pity for the underdog and hatred of capitalism penetrated deep into the consciousness of the postwar mentality in a Germany riddled by misery, inflation, and political failure.

Grosz's lithographic series in particular made him internationally known. His style was quite novel in the history of modern draftsmanship. His most famous series are Das Gesicht der herrschenden Klasse (1919), Abrechnung folgt and Ecce Homo (both 1922), Spiesser Spiegel (1924), and Das neue Gesicht der herrschenden Klasse and Die Gezeichneten (both 1930). Only the work of the German painter Otto Dix could compare with the acidity, the fantastic aggressiveness, and the determination of Grosz to unmask the social lie, the cruelty of war, and the depraved moral code.

In 1920 Grosz visited Italy, and in 1922 he spent 6 months in Russia. About 1925 he approached in his paintings a style that was utterly realistic; it was called the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), and it was a reaction to the expressionist trends of the era. This is exemplified in his portrait of Max Hermann Neisse (1927).

In 1932 Grosz accepted an invitation by the Art Students League of New York City to teach there. The following year he opened an art school, which he conducted until 1937. That year he was included in the German exhibition of "degenerate" art; a year later he was deprived of his German citizenship and became an American citizen. Grosz taught at the School of Fine Arts, Columbia University (1941-1942). For a short time he painted landscapes and figural compositions with nudes, but he soon returned to works in a social realist mode. He died in Berlin on July 6, 1959.

Further Reading

Grosz's A Little Yes and a Big No (1946) is his autobiography. Herbert Bittner, ed., George Grosz (1961), includes an essay by the artist, "On My Drawings." John I. H. Baur, George Grosz (1954), is a study of the artist's work deepened by psychological insight. The artistic climate in which Grosz worked is described in Franz Roh, German Art in the 20th Century (1968). Reproductions of his work are in Arts Council of Great Britain, George Grosz, 1893-1959 (1963).

Additional Sources

Flavell, M. Kay (Mary Kay), George Grosz, a biography, New Haven:Yale University Press, 1988.

George Grosz:his life and work, New York:Universe Books, 1979.

Grosz, George, The autobiography of George Grosz:a small yes and a big no, London; New York:Allison & Busby, 1982.

Grosz, George, George Grosz, an autobiography, New York: Macmillan, 1983. □

Grosz, George (b Berlin, 26 July 1893; d West Berlin, 6 July 1959). German-born painter and draughtsman who became an American citizen in 1938. He began as a caricaturist and through his drawings he expressed his disgust at the depravity of the Prussian military caste. During the First World War he twice served in the German army and each time was discharged as being unfit for service. In 1917, with Heartfield, he Anglicized his name (adding an ‘e’ to ‘Georg’) as a protest against the hatred being whipped up against the enemy. The most famous of the satirical anti-war illustrations he made at this time is the drawing Fit for Active Service (1918, MoMA, New York), in which a fat, complacent doctor pronounces a skeleton fit for duty. From 1917 to 1920 Grosz was a prominent figure in the Dada movement in Berlin, and in the 1920s, with Dix, he became the leading exponent of the Neue Sachlichkeit. In 1917 he published the first of several collections of drawings, through which he established an international reputation. The most famous are The Face of the Ruling Class (1921) and Ecce Homo (1927). In these and in his paintings he ruthlessly denounced a decaying society in which gluttony and depravity are placed beside poverty and disease; prostitutes and profiteers were frequently among his cast of characters. Grosz often used watercolour, and in spite of the nastiness of the subject matter and the bluntness of his satire, his works in this medium are remarkable for the sheer beauty and delicacy of their technique. His more conventional works of this time include a number of incisive portraits. He was prosecuted several times for obscenity and blasphemy, and in 1933, despairing at the political situation in Germany, he moved to America to take up the offer of a teaching post at the Art Students League of New York.

In America Grosz largely abandoned his satirical manner for more romantic landscapes and still-lifes, with from time to time apocalyptic visions of a nightmare future. Although he won several honours in his later years, he regarded himself as a failure because he was unable to win recognition as a serious painter rather than a brilliant satirist, and he painted several self-portraits showing how isolated and depressed he was in his adopted country (The Wanderer, 1943, Memorial AG, Univ. of Rochester, New York). His autobiography, A Little Yes and a Big No, was published in New York in 1946. He returned to Berlin in 1959, saying ‘my American dream turned out to be a soap bubble’, and died there shortly after his arrival following a fall down a flight of stairs.

Grosz, George (1893–1959). German-born painter and draughtsman who became an American citizen in 1938. He began as a caricaturist and through his drawings he expressed his disgust at the depravity of the Prussian military caste. During the First World War he twice served in the German army and each time was discharged as being unfit for service. In 1917, with Heartfield, he Anglicized his name (adding an ‘e’ to ‘Georg’) as a protest against the hatred being whipped up against the enemy. The most famous of the satirical anti-war illustrations he made at this time is the drawing Fit for Active Service (1918, MoMA, New York), in which a fat, complacent doctor pronounces a skeleton fit for duty. From 1917 to 1920 Grosz was a prominent figure in the Dada movement in Berlin, and in the 1920s, with Dix, he became the leading exponent of the Neue Sachlichkeit. In 1917 he published the first of several collections of drawings, through which he established an international reputation. The most famous are The Face of the Ruling Class (1921) and Ecce Homo (1927). In these and in his paintings he ruthlessly denounced a decaying society in which gluttony and depravity are placed beside poverty and disease; prostitutes and profiteers were frequently among his cast of characters. Grosz often used watercolour, and in spite of the nastiness of the subject matter and the bluntness of his satire, his works in this medium are remarkable for the sheer beauty and delicacy of their technique. His more conventional works of this time include a number of incisive portraits. He was prosecuted several times for obscenity and blasphemy, and in 1933, despairing at the political situation in Germany, he moved to America to take up the offer of a teaching post at the Art Students League of New York. In America he largely abandoned his satirical manner for more romantic landscapes and still lifes, with from time to time apocalyptic visions of a nightmare future. Although he won several honours in his later years, he regarded himself as a failure because he was unable to win recognition as a serious painter rather than a brilliant satirist, and he painted several self-portraits showing how isolated and depressed he was in his adopted country (The Wanderer, 1943, Memorial AG, Univ. of Rochester, New York). His autobiography, A Little Yes and a Big No, was published in New York in 1946. He returned to Berlin in 1959, saying, ‘my American dream turned out to be a soap bubble’, and died there shortly after his arrival, following a fall down a flight of stairs.

George Grosz , 1893–1959, German-American caricaturist, draughtsman, and painter, b. Berlin. Before and during World War I he contributed drawings on proletarian themes to Illustration and other German periodicals. He was associated with the Dada group at that time. In postwar Germany, Grosz was famous for his vitriolic, satirical drawings attacking the corruption of German bourgeois society. On three occasions he was brought to trial by the state for allegedly defaming public morals and for blasphemy. In his caricatures he evoked a nightmare world, an inferno, made credible with a few jagged pen-and-ink lines. In 1924, Grosz began to paint, and in 1933 he accepted a position as art instructor at the Art Students League, New York City. He became a U.S. citizen in 1938. At first the fiery work of his German period was supplanted by a more traditional rendering of figures and landscapes. However, World War II impelled him to create a symbolic series of ravaged figures. His drawing Street Scene (Philadelphia Mus. of Art) is characteristic. Other works are at the Museum of Modern Art. Two collections of his drawings were published in 1944.

Bibliography: See his autobiography, A Little Yes and a Big No (tr. 1946) and Ecce Homo (new ed. 1966); biographies by H. Hess (1985) and M. K. Flavell (1988).

Grosz, George (1893–1959) German illustrator and painter. A founder of the Dada movement in Berlin, Grosz mercilessly satirized capitalist decadence, German militarism and the rise of fascism in drawings and caricatures, such as Ecce Homo (1923). In 1932 he fled to the USA.