New Objectivity - 903

Narrator (f):

Alongside Beckmann, George Grosz was another central figure in the Mannheim exhibition. Seven paintings from 1916 to 1925 were presented at the time. Against the backdrop of World War I and the early Weimar period, Grosz had become increasingly politicized. After Grosz co-organized the Erste Internationale Dada-Messe (First International Dada Fair) in Berlin in 1920, he sought new, objective forms of expression. A brief phase began in which he took his lead from the Pittura metafisca of the Italians Carlo Carrà and Giorgio de Chirico. The figures in front of the Cubist architecture recall the marionettes of the Italian artists.

Narrator (m):

The painting Gray Day of 1921, or Civil Servant from the Magistrate of Welfare for War Invalids, shows Grosz transitioning from his mechanical, Constructivist phase to critical Verism. With sharply formulated social criticism and exaggerated types, Grosz shed light on the dark sides of society and analyzed the causes of the misery.

Narrator (f):

This work depicts a confrontation between a war veteran and a narrow-minded civil servant who is not concerned about the invalid’s fate. The two men are separated by a wall, not only spatially but also emotionally and socially. Whereas the civil servant is rendered as a caricature, and the veteran has individual features, the worker in the background is faceless, merely a marionette before the industrial scenery. The fourth figure, who is pressed furtively against the wall of a building, stands in turn for the shady black marketeers who were shamelessly getting rich.

Narrator (m):

The title alludes to the bleak, depressive mood of the year 1921. It is estimated that 80,000 soldiers had lost their arms or legs in the terrible war. As beggars, they dominated the image of the city in many places. Soon after producing this picture, Grosz abandoned oil painting in favor of working on book illustrations, with which he could express his critique of society more directly and with a wider range.