The Berlin of George Grosz

No other artist's work depicts Berlin of the 1920s as unmistakably as the paintings, drawings, and prints of George Grosz (1893-1959). At first politically committed but then increasingly disillusioned, Grosz portrayed Germany from its defeat in World War I, through economic and political crisis, to the rise and triumph of Fascism. His work teems with the characters of the capital of the Weimar Republic: the prostitutes and pimps, the beggars and black marketeers, the scheming politicians, vengeful military and judiciary personnel, dissatisfied workers, and self-important bourgeoisie. This book presents about 150 of Grosz's finest works on paper. It also provides fascinating information about the artist, including several of his key theoretical essays and many revealing letters that are here translated into English for the first time. Grosz was more than a merciless satirist and accurate social commentator: he was also one of the greatest artists of the age whose unerring, razor-sharp line and unique powers of observation were complemented by stylistic and technical innovations. He put the fragmentation of Cubism and Futurism to new ends, gave a new dimension to the mysterious anonymity of metaphysical painting, and employed photomontage (he was one of the earliest practitioners) to reflect the energy and confusion of his period. Grosz was a member of the artistic avant-garde, a key personality in the Dada movement, and he also appealed to a mass audience through his political cartoons, unmatched since Daumier's satirical works of the previous century. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London from March to June, 1997.