Lot Essay
Christus mit der Gasmaske comes from a series of designs which Grosz executed between 1926 and 1927, inspired by Erwin Piscator's production of the revolutionary drama The Good Soldier Schweik. This was serialized in the magazine Hintergrund using Grosz's drawings as illustrations. The present work is a variant on the Christus mit der Gasmaske, one of three of the seventeen drawings included in the publication, and Grosz's most discussed single work, for which he as artist, and Wieland Herzfelde as publisher, were tried for blasphemy.
The offending works were declared 'an insult against the institutions of the Church'. The cornerstone of the prosecution was one of the Christus drawings described in the court ruling as "an emaciated crucified Christ represented in the usual tradition, yet with the following special characteristics. The face is covered by a gasmask; he has boots on his feet...and the left hand is not nailed to the cross, but holds a crucifix" (see A. Apfel, 'Reichsgericht über George Grosz', Die Weltbühne, 24 June 1930, pp. 252-7).
Grosz and Herzfelde were found guilty of blasphemy, but appealed and were acquitted. The appeal court argued that the motivation behind the image was one of pacifism, and that it symbolised the teaching of the Church aginst war. However, it was not until after a third trial that Grosz was finally aquitted for good.
The offending works were declared 'an insult against the institutions of the Church'. The cornerstone of the prosecution was one of the Christus drawings described in the court ruling as "an emaciated crucified Christ represented in the usual tradition, yet with the following special characteristics. The face is covered by a gasmask; he has boots on his feet...and the left hand is not nailed to the cross, but holds a crucifix" (see A. Apfel, 'Reichsgericht über George Grosz', Die Weltbühne, 24 June 1930, pp. 252-7).
Grosz and Herzfelde were found guilty of blasphemy, but appealed and were acquitted. The appeal court argued that the motivation behind the image was one of pacifism, and that it symbolised the teaching of the Church aginst war. However, it was not until after a third trial that Grosz was finally aquitted for good.