George Grosz in Berlin

A penetrating reevaluation of the period in which the German Expressionist George Grosz created his best-known, most searing satirical works

This overdue investigation of George Grosz’s (1893–1959) most compelling paintings, drawings, prints, and collages offers a reassessment of the celebrated German Expressionist during his years in Berlin, the period of his greatest work. In-depth discussions of more than 60 of Grosz’s works—from his earliest artistic endeavours to the trenchant satirical images and searing depictions of moral decay between the World Wars for which he is known today—draw on letters previously untranslated into English.

Menacing street scenes, rowdy cabarets, corrupt politicians, wounded soldiers, greedy war profiteers, and other symbols of Berlin’s interwar decline all met with the artist’s relentless gaze, which exposed the core social issues that eventually led to Germany’s extreme nationalist politics.

Featuring masterpieces such as Metropolis (1916–17), Beauty, I Want to Praise You (1919), and drawings from the portfolio God with Us (1920), the book also includes several rarely published works that provide further insight into the artist’s creative pinnacle, reached during this critical and ominous period in German history.