On my most recent travel excursion to Rochester, I had the opportunity to visit the Memorial Art Gallery in the East End neighborhood. It was a nice little gallery and in the coming weeks I will be featuring some of the artists that I saw while I was there. There were 18-20 artists that I had never seen before so investigating their work is a pleasure. I love finding new art!
George Grosz is a German born painter (1893-1959) who is known for his caricatures of Berlin in the 1920's. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada movement as well as New Objectivity before he emigrated to the United States in 1933.
Grosz was bitterly opposed to the Nazi movement in his country and left Germany before Hitler came to power. In 1933 he was invited to teach the summer at the Art Students League of New York. After that summer he returned to Germany for his family and then emigrated. He taught at the League permanently until 1955.
In 1959, Grosz decided he wanted to visit his homeland and returned to Germany. While in Berlin he fell down the stairs after a night of drinking and died.
His original influences were expressionism and futurism as well as graffiti. He drew Berlin city scenes until he emigrated and left those themes behind. He eventually turned to landscapes and conventional nude painting.
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