687 - George Grosz (1893 – Berlin – 1959)

George Grosz (1893 – Berlin – 1959) Blind Cripple Watercolor and charcoal on sturdy, chamois-colored vellum. (19)23. Approx. 64.5 x 52.5 cm. Signed and dated lower right; the title “Cripple,” likely added later in English, appears lower right at the edge of the sheet. Accompanied by a photographic expert report by Ralph Jentsch, Berlin/Rome, dated April 16, 2020. The work will be included in the catalogue raisonné of works on paper currently in preparation. • A characteristic watercolor drawing by George Grosz featuring subtle social criticism • An authentic, historical testimony to everyday life in the Weimar Republic • Exhibited in 1930 at the Grosz solo exhibition at Galerie Flechtheim in Düsseldorf Were it not for the unambiguous title “Blinder Krüppel” (Blind Cripple), this wonderfully large-format watercolor of a man walking with his dog would, at first glance, almost appear to be a cheerful cityscape. The delicate brushstrokes, the light color palette, and the implied park-like background with a chain-link fence, trees, and a monument all underscore this seemingly harmless scene. But upon closer inspection, it quickly becomes clear that the man depicted is a war-wounded soldier who returned home from World War I blind and with a leg injury. Only with the help of his guide dog can he find his way through the city; his cane helps him walk. Nevertheless, he proudly wears his uniform and the Iron Cross around his neck. Disabled veterans who are forced to beg for their daily sustenance are a common sight on the streets of Berlin in the 1920s. World War I, the primordial catastrophe of the early 20th century, led to fundamental social changes. After the war ended, social inequality and injustice grew increasingly severe; countless people were threatened by unemployment and poverty, and many veterans were left with permanent physical or psychological disabilities. George Grosz, too, experienced the horrors of war as a soldier—destruction, injury, and the death of his comrades. In the wake of these profound upheavals, the classical ideals of art had lost their validity; so Grosz sought to capture and process what he had seen and experienced through satire, the grotesque, or exaggerated alienation. He became one of the most perceptive and unsparing observers of metropolitan Berlin in the 1920s. Bibliography: Jentsch, Ralph, George Grosz 1893–1959. A resounding “No” – The Visionary Grosz, Antwerp 2013, cat. no. 43, pp. 190ff. and p. 284, with full-page illustration. Exhibitions: George Grosz. Oil Paintings and Watercolors, Alfred Flechtheim Gallery, Düsseldorf 1930, cat. no. 41 (“The Blind Man”); Impressions du Front: Invalide aveugle. George Grosz – Otto Dix, Musée du Temps, Besançon 2014/15, cat. no. 29, pp. 79 and 110, with illustration; Raw War, Ronny Van de Velde Gallery, Knokke-Heist 2015/16, pp. 74ff., with ill.; The Art of War, Kazerne Dossin, Malines/Mecheln 2017/18, pp. 141 and 173, with ill. Provenance: The artist’s studio, 1923; Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin, 1930 (on consignment); George Grosz, USA, after 1933; Associated American Artists Gallery, New York; Estate of Elsbeth Bothe, Baltimore, USA; Ronny Van de Velde Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium, acquired from the aforementioned in 2013; Ketterer, Munich, July 18, 2020, Lot 370; Collection, Rhineland, acquired from the aforementioned. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).