2024-04-16
A new museum dedicated to the work of Georg Grosz opened in Berlin in mid-May this year. Visitors will be able to admire the work of the outstanding cartoonist in the building of a former petrol station. The creators have named the whole undertaking "Das kleine Grosz Museum", which can be translated as "The Little Grosz Museum".
George Grosz was born in 1893 in Berlin, and it was his satirical work depicting life in this city in the 1920s that brought him the greatest fame. Grosz created compelling caricatures depicting the darker side of city life. He showed violence and class contradictions in them. He did not run away from themes such as murder or rape, and indirectly criticized inequality, politicians and the clergy.
The artist debuted as a cartoonist already in 1910 when he was only 17 years old. He started to work with the magazine "Ulk" (Joke), a supplement to the daily "Berliner Tageblatt". After the First World War, he became a co-founder of the Berlin Dada movement. He was faithful to the slogan "Dada is senseless". In 1933, he emigrated to the USA and was soon regarded as a degraded artist by the fascist German government. He did not return to his homeland until 1959 and died in Berlin just a few weeks later.
The museum building is located near Nollendorfplatz, not far from where Grosz lived. The institution was built on the site of a 1950s gas station, which in 2008 was converted into the residence of Juerg Judin, a Swiss art dealer and collector.
The visitor has the opportunity to see two permanent exhibitions. The ground floor exhibition presents Grosz's life and work: there are drawings and watercolours from the 1920s and later works. One noteworthy piece is a self-portrait from the United States from 1950, in which the painter's head has been chewed up by mice. The second exhibition, 'Gross before Grosz: Early Years', presented on the first floor, shows the teenage works of Grosz (the name on the painter's birth certificate is Georg Ehrenfried Gross).