George Grosz (1893-1959)

Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein

Details

George Grosz (1893-1959)
Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein
indistinctly stamped with signature 'Grosz' (lower right); with nachlass stamp '3557' (on the reverse)
pen and India ink on paper
18 x 24½ in. (45.8 x 62.3 cm.)
Drawn in 1922

Provenance

Estate of the artist. The Art Fair, New York.
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1966.

Literature

G. Grosz, Abrechnung Folgt! 57 politische Zeichnungen, Berlin, circa 1923, p. 17.
G. Grosz, The Day of Reckoning, London, 1984, p. 15.

Sale room notice

Peter Grosz has confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.

Lot Essay

Peter Grosz has confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.

Malik Verlag, the left-leaning publishing house founded in 1916 by Wieland Herzfelde, periodically issued compilations of Grosz's political and satirical drawings (op. cit.). The present drawing was published with the caption Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein ("Love the Fatherland, be quiet"). It depicts the suppression of the Spartacist uprising in Berlin by right-wing paramilitary forces in January 1919. The composition purposely recalls Francisco Goya's famous El Tres del Mayo, 1808 (coll. Museo del Prado, Madrid) and Eugène Manet's L'exécution de l'Empereur Maximilien, 1867 (coll. Kunsthalle, Mannheim).

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