George Grosz's Woman: A Study in Texture

This study by George Grosz will be on sale at Christie's New York on November 2. Grosz is one of the 20th century's most pungent satirists, but when he sailed to America from the Weimar Republic he suddenly and unexpectedly found himself unable to return home and he lost the primary target of his acerbic art. He also lost his audience and much of his original artwork. While he remained acutely concerned over the deteriorating situation in Nazi Germany, his American work was far tamer and he had to teach in order to make a living. This drawing, which will be offered at Christie's on November 2, shows his prodigious skill as a draftsman.

George Grosz (1904-1991)

Woman: A Study in Texture

Images

                           George Grosz (1904-1991)  

                            Woman: A Study in Texture 

signed and indistinctly dated 'Grosz 39' (lower right); with Nachlass stamp (on the reverse)
charcoal and sanguine on paper
24 7/8 x 19 in. (63.2 x 48.3 cm.)
Drawn in 1939

Estimate 

$12,000 - $16,000

• November 2, 2011:  Sold for $20,000
  Sale Information

Sale 2478 Lot 142
Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper 
2 November 2011
New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Provenance

Estate of the artist.
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York.
Saul P. Steinberg, New York; sale, Christie's, New York, 19 May 1981, lot 169.
Acquired at the above sale by the family of the present owner. 

Saleroom Notice

Ralph Jentsch has confirmed the authenticity of this work. 

Pre-Lot Text

Property from the Estate of Countess Consuelo Crespi

Literature

George Grosz Drawings, New York, 1944, p. 12, no. 25 (illustrated).
H. Bittner, ed., George Grosz, New York, 1960, p. 50 (illustrated, pl. 90; titled).

The same sale also includes two earlier European works by Grosz:

George Grosz (1893-1959)

Strassenszene, Berlin Hausmädchen 

signed, dated and inscribed 'Grosz 1929 Berlin' (lower left)
watercolor and pen and ink on paper laid down on board
23¾ x 18 7/8 in. (60.3 x 48 cm.)
Executed in Berlin, 1929 

Estimate 

$60,000 - $80,000


November 2, 2011:  Sold for $68,500

Sale Information

Sale 2478 Lot 143
Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper 
2 November 2011
New York, Rockefeller Plaza 

Provenance

Kunsthandlung Schöninger, Munich.
Private collection, Chicago (by 1950).
By descent from the above to the present owner. 

Lot Notes

Ralph Jentsch has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

ENLARGE & ZOOM

                                George Grosz (1883-1959)

                                           Freundinnen

stamped with signature 'Grosz' (lower right); with Nachlass stamp (on the reverse)
watercolor and pen and ink on paper
26¼ x 19 in. (66.8 x 48.3 cm.)
Executed in 1929

Estimate

$20,000 - $30,000

• November 2, 2011:  Unsold

Sale Information

Sale 2478 Lot 141
Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper 
2 November 2011
New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Provenance

Estate of the artist.
Anon. sale, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 6 December 1982, lot 546.
Anon. (acquired at the above sale); sale, Christie's, London, 3 February 2010, lot 283.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. 

Pre-Lot Text

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Exhibited

Varese, Chiostro di Voltorre, Le carte di Grosz, May-September 1995, p. 39 (illustrated in color). 

Lot Notes

Ralph Jentsch has confirmed the authenticity of this watercolor.

Note:  My most recent post on the art of George Grosz is here.

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