George Grosz: The Berlin Years

New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1985. Hardcover. A near-fine copy, headband lacking, in a near-fine jacket with some light toning and soiling and light wear at the extremities. 11 x 9.5 inches. 253 pages. Cloth; dust jacket. First American edition. "George Grosz (1893-1959) was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group. He was born Georg Ehrenfried Groß in Berlin, but changed his name in 1916 out of a romantic enthusiasm for America. Anti-Nazi, Grosz left Germany in 1932, and in 1933 was invited to teach at the Art Students League of New York, where he would teach intermittently until 1955. Over 500 illustrations, drawings, and paintings in this book document the entire output of the artist's German and American years, including drawings spanning from when the artist was the age of fifteen to his paintings made during his U.S. period. Also included are sketches of stage designs he created between 1919-1954 for theatre pieces by Bernard Shaw, Iwan Goll, Georg Kaiser, Paul Zech, and Jaroslav Kaek, as well as numerous collages. The volume is complete with unpublished photographs from the painter's private life and two essays by Enrico Crispolti and Philippe Dagen.