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George Grosz (July 26, 1893 - July 6, 1959) was a
prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New
Objectivity group.  He was born Georg Groß but
changed his name because he did not want a German
language|German name.  (His artist friend  and
collaborator Helmut Herzfeld changed his name to
John Heartfield at the same time.) 

In 1914 Grosz enlisted in the Germany|German army,
before the general conscription|draft.  He was
released as unfit for service because of health
after less than two years.  His sinuses were given
as the official reason, but his time in a military
mental hospital probably had more to do with his
release. 

Grosz was arrested during the Spartakus uprising
in January 1919, but escaped using fake
identification documents; He joined the Communist
Party of Germany (KPD) in the same year. In 1921
Grosz was accused of insulting the
Reichswehr|army, which resulted in a 300 Deutsche
Mark|German Mark fine and the destruction of the
collection Gott mit uns ("God with us"), a satire
on German society. Grosz left the KPD in 1922
after having spent five months in Russia and
meeting Lenin and Trotsky, because of his
antagonism to any form of dictatorial authority.  

His drawings, many of them ink and water color,
have contributed greatly to the image most have of
Berlin and the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, gross
businessmen, wounded soldiers, prostitutes, and
orgies were his great subjects.  His draftsmanship
was excellent and although he made a few absurd
art works, such as "Remember Uncle August the
Happy Inventor" which had buttons sewn on it
(http://www.centrepompidou.fr/images/oeuvres/XL/3I
01508.jpg see it here), most of his works were
realistic, as in
http://www.ameanet.com/memberz/grosz/ these
drawings in the World Museum of Erotic Art. 

He was bitterly anti-Nazi, left Germany in 1932,
was invited to teach at the Art Students League in
New York on 1933 and he became a naturalized
citizen of the United States in 1938. He painted
Cain, or Hitler in Hell in 1944 showing the dead
attacking Hitler in Hell. After leaving Germany,
Grosz lived in New York City as an art professor
and painter until 1958.  Even though he had
American citizenship, he returned to Germany where
he lived briefly.  Grosz died on July 6, 1959 from
the effects of a night of drinking.

In 1960, Grosz was the subject of the
Oscar-nominated short film George Grosz'
Interregnum.

==External links==

* http://www.grosz.tk - brief biography and
pictures