When Hitler came, the feeling came over me like that of a boxer; I felt as if I had lost.
All our efforts were for nothing.
George Grosz in 1958
Born in 1893, Berlin, Grosz got expelled from Grammar School in 1908. From then on, he
decides to take on art courses at the Konigliche Kunstakademie, Dresden (1909) where he
becomes associated with the
German Expressionist group 'Die Brucke'.
In 1912 he returns to Berlin, and studies at the
Berlin Art School. When in 1914 the First
World War starts, Grosz voluntarily joins the German army but he's discharged in 1915 as
being 'unsuitable' for service . In 1917 he's recalled for service, but he finds himself soon transferred
to a mental home: he's released from all military services in May.
Back in Berlin, he founds the Berlin
Dada movement and embraces the
anti-war movements
and left wing radical parties. By that time Grosz's name is well known for satiring the
war and politicians. In 1922 he decides to join the Communist party in Germany, but
after a trip to Russia he soon discovers that art and politics aren't the same and he
quickly resigns.
Between 1922 and 1924 his name frequently hits the headlines: for several works he
is accused of '
blasphemy' (his series 'Hintergrund'), 'offending public morals' and
'slandering the army'.
In 1924 he leaves for France,
Paris and lives for a while in the south of France. When
he returns to Berlin (in 1928) the political atmosphere has changed drastically. Critics
call his left-ish work an 'anachronisme'. A critic even calls his 'Wintermarchen' a
'curiosity that only have a place in a
wax museum'.
With the rise of the Nazis, Grosz finds himself threatened by the day. Old friends,
now followers of Hitler, warn him to be careful with his political statements and even
ask him 'Why he still isn't in America'.
In Spring 1932 he's invited to teach in New York, and he decides to leave but when he
returns to Germany for a short visit, he learns that his house has been ransacked by
the
Gestapo. Grosz decides to emigrate to America, where he becomes an American citizen
in 1938.
From relatives he learns that his work has been put on the Nazi's
blacklist
of art: secretly he's proud of it. In a letter to a friend he writes that his
inclusion to the list substantiated the fact that his art had a purpose. A total
of 285 of Grosz's works were collected by the Nazis and several of them where
officially shown on 'Forbidden art' exhibitions.
In America, Grosz participates in several
anti-fascism demonstrations.
After the war he mainly lectures art in America an in 1951 he briefly visits
his motherland.
In 1958 he decides to settle back in
Germany, disillusioned with
the American way of life and his critics. Six weeks after his return he dies in an
accident.