Inspiring Older Readers

posted on 17 Jun 2016

The Berlin of George Grosz : Drawings, Watercolours and Prints 1912 - 1930 by Frank Whitford

Troubled times breed troubled and troubling artists. Frequently, the artist's weapon of choice in such circumstances is satire or caricature and this was certainly true in those difficult years we call Weimar Germany.

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In the years between the two world wars German (and middle European) culture was going through a series of shocks - political, economic, social and moral - and it fell to artists, writers and painters to critique and try to come to terms with what was happening. In a world of fear and uncertainty such as that experienced in Europe between the wars, hedonism and decadence can become the dominant response to the brittleness of life.

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When we think about those Weimar years two artists / satirists provide the mental images that crowd into the mind - Otto Dix and George Grosz. This book by Frank Whitford gives us an insight into Grosz's work during the time leading up to the rise of the Nazi Party and includes an excellent text as well as a wonderful selection of the prints in both black and white and colour.

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Grosz's work is a fascinating case study. As a committed Left thinker he initially joined the emerging German Communist Party having been inspired by the Spartacist movement of Rosa Luxemburg. However, following a trip to the Soviet Union and meetings with Lenin he decided Communism wasn't for him so he left the Party but retained his strong Leftist views. His hatred of the emerging Nazi Party led him to think about leaving his home country - which he eventually did at the beginning of the 1930s.

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Having left for America, he never returned and eventually became a naturalised American subject and during this difficult transitional time he decided that his career as a satirist and caricaturist had reached its natural conclusion and he resolved never to work in those mediums again. This was a resolution he abided by until his death in 1959.

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However, it is his work from the Weimar years for which history will remember him. He has a savage, unflinching eye for cupidity and folly and he is remorseless in rolling back the stone to show us the kinds of excess and moral turpitude we are capable of. I personally find it hard to read about Weimar or look at Grosz's work without being forced to think about the sort of parallels that exist with our own times. For me Grosz isn't a historical figure talking to us about a past that is gone and forgotten - he's our contemporary warning us what fate awaits if we fail to learn the lessons he has so graphically set out in front of us.

 

Terry Potter

June 2016

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