GEORGE GROSZ (1893-1959)
Downtown Manhattan
signed and inscribed 'Grosz N.Y.' (lower right)
watercolor, brush and ink on paper
26 3/16 x 19 in (66.5 x 48.2 cm)
Executed in New York in 1933
Footnotes:
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Ralph Jentsch. This work will be included in the forthcoming George Grosz catalogue raisonné of works on paper, currently being prepared.

Provenance
The artist's studio, Long Island (1933).
Private collection, New York.
Thence by descent to the present owners.


Grosz's enthusiasm for America, which traces back to his childhood, had changed from a youthful craze into a conscious aversion and hated of Germany, and ultimately led to his emigration in 1933. Grosz had left Berlin with a heavy heart, but he was already well-known in New York when he settled there in 1933. Dinner invitations widened his social connections and solo exhibitions mounted by leading galleries acquainted the public with the artist's work in the U.S. Major figures in American society were already familiar with the artist and his work, and this contributed to Grosz's popularity. Journalist and successful Hollywood scriptwriter Ben Hecht, for example, had already met the artist in Berlin in 1919. In the same year, the writer Dos Passos had come across books by Grosz in Paris, and Ernest Hemingway possessed a number of watercolors by him. In fact, with his move to America, Grosz started a new career, and became one of the most important artists living in America.

Grosz was fascinated by New York, by its architecture and streets, its people and the way of life. The artist was familiar with big city life, as he settled in Berlin in 1912, and Grosz immediately fell in love with New York when he arrived there in 1932. He came to teach at the Art Students League during the summer months, and settled for good in the following year.

With his early Manhattan views created from 1932 to 1934, Grosz continued in America his tradition of depicting city views and street scenes, which he established during his Berlin years, and which played an important role in his oeuvre in the late 1920s. But Grosz did not transpose his Berlin visions and memories on his explorations of New York, but rather embraced all impressions of the American way of life as he immediately experienced them.

In this watercolor, Grosz depicts a typical street scene in downtown Manhattan with brownstones and fire escapes, a high-rise building visible in the background. The streets bustle with cars and crowds of people and in the middle of the picture one can detect part of an elevated train track. Here, Grosz demonstrates his excellent mastery of watercolor technique; only a few lines of ink mark the basic composition, while the rest of this fascinating scene is executed with sure brushstrokes of watercolor, wet into wet.

An excerpted text by Ralph Jentsch