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Georg Ehrenfried Groß, known as George Grosz, was a German artist, active in the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity movements. Before moving to Berlin, Grosz spent much of his childhood in the town of Stolp. In 1914 Grosz joined the military voluntarily, romanticizing the “war to end all wars” motto, created to promote service in the First World War. After only a year of service Grosz was discharged, until being called to duty again in 1917. Grosz only served a few months before receving his second discharge.

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By 1919 Grosz became active in the Communist Part of Germany and engaged in controversial activities, which led to his temporary arrest and a fine of 300 marks. As a communist, Grosz traveled to Russia and met both Lenin and Trotsky. After five months in Russia, Grosz lost his enthusiasm for the KPD and decided to leave the Communist Party in 1922.

 

 

 

Grosz was strongly opposed to Hitler’s leadership, and decided to emigrate to the United States before the Nazi’s gained more power. Grosz first went to New York in 1932 to teach a course at the Art Students League. By 1938 he became a naturalized citizen and settled with his family in Bayside, New York. When looking at Grosz’s paintings it can be easily seen that Grosz drastically changed his style of painting after leaving Germany. The change in his paintings, mirror Grosz’s attempt to create a fresh start in a new country.

 

 

In the 1950s Grosz started teaching art classes out of his home and became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In The United States, Grosz exhibited frequently and published an autobiography titled, A Little Yes and a Big No.

 

 

A few years before his death, Grosz decided to return to Berlin. Grosz died in 1959 after falling down a staircase in an inebriated state. Posthumously, Grosz has become the subject of several films and museum retrospectives. His early paintings create an important picture of the Weimar Republic of Berlin in the 1920s, which is both crude and uncensored. Grosz’s work is now in important museums and private collections around the world.

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