Sunday, September 4, 2011

"Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" by George Grosz

George Grosz's graphic work from Weimar Germany is among the most caustic in his or indeed in any artist's oeuvre. His work before he left Germany is his most important and his most scathing. Here is a study for a 1922 print entitled Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht [Silent Night, Holy Night] being offered at Swann Galleries on September 22. The published print is shown below. Many artists would treat this subject with sentimentality. Grosz instead chooses blistering social satire.

Sale 2254 Lot 474
GEORGE GROSZ 
Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.
Brush and black ink on cream wove paper, circa 1922. 588x400 mm; 23 1/4x15 3/4 inches. Signed in ink, lower right recto. With the George Grosz Nachlass ink stamp, numbered "3-10-2" in ink, verso.

A study for the print Gottes sichtbarer Segen ist bei mir in Die Räuber, published by Malik-Verlag, Berlin, 1922 (see Dückers M V 6).

Rolph Jetsch has confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.
Estimate $15,000-20,000
October 1, 2011:  Unsold
George Grosz, Gottes sichtbarer Segen ist bei mir
[God's blessing is with me visible] in Die Räuber, 1922

The published print.





The sale at Swann Galleries:  

071

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