George Grosz Ger. 1893–1959 Erotica Signed "Grosz," l.r. and estate-stamped "George Gross Nachlass" verso with the number as described below by Richard Cohn verso Oil on paper 17 1/2 x 21 1/2 in. 44.5 x 54.6 cm Property of a gentleman, Ontario

"My drawings and paintings were done as an act of protest: I was trying by means of my work to convince the world that it is ugly, sick, and hypocritical"...George Grosz
The first two paragraphs that immediately follow are from the catalogue for George Grosz in Germany, Works on Paper 1913–1925 [earlier than the current lot] at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture, November 7, 2013?–?January 4, 2014, curated by Karen Wilkin, of works from the Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection.
"The world Grosz conjured up, populated by mutilated veterans, bullet-headed military types, ladies of the evening, complacent burghers, their scary wives, and the like, is at once repellent and engaging....It’s not pretty but it’s impossible to look away...His penetrating eye is as merciless as his incisive line: no grotesquery, no pomposity, no shade of pretense escaped him. It’s perhaps worth noting that Lucian Freud, himself a connoisseur of the unappetizing, is supposed to have admired Grosz’s drawings."...?Karen Wilkin
The truth in all its rawness [is] shown with tenderness by its willingness to be rough...Looking at Grosz’s work, it was impossible not to notice the delicacy (hard word to use in his case) and forcefulness of the stroke. The political position that was the foundation of most of his production, however strong and heartfelt it was, never replaced the artistic rendition. Grosz...remained, in spite of his passion to express his outrage, first and unshakably a fully accomplished artist."...?William Louis-Dreyfus
As noted above, the current image is at once repellent and engaging in ways that perhaps only Grosz could - or would have dared - paint. In contrast to the demure Renoir-inspired bonnet in the current image, the central presence of a fluttering fly, while also positing an element of humor, is dark, its subtlety contributing to the even sharper and more satiric response to hypocritical mores than one finds in many of the artist’s images, erotic or otherwise.
–?Barridoff Galleries
Throughout his career as an artist, Grosz always had a strong liking of erotic subjects. This started as early as in 1912 with his move from Dresden to the metropolis Berlin and culminated in large drawings in the late Twenties and in a series of large works on paper in America.
It was above all in the years 1939 to 1941 that Grosz partly concentrated his work on the female nude and also erotic subjects again, executing them in pencil, charcoal, watercolor, oil, and mixed media. As mostly always his wife Eva posed for him in the studio but also in nature, mostly in Cape Cod, the fashionable summer resort Grosz started to attend in 1939, spending there two or three months every
year, where also this very work was executed.
The artist depicts in this work the very moment when the model is nearly completely naked, showing her body quite without shame in all its seductive beauty. Like a sculptor Grosz models the body in every detail, emphasizing the voluptuous beauty of the woman who is ready for love-making. Except for the summer hat and perfume bottle the details of the surrounding are vague and in high contrast to the in all details carefully executed figure of the model that in this way dominates the picture with her beauty.
It was only after Grosz had moved to the United States in 1933, that he started working not only with watercolor on paper but also with mixed media and oil, often also using white chalk to outline objects and figures. He only used this painting technique for the many female nudes and highly erotic subjects he started to paint in 1939 and above all in the years 1940 and 1941. The work “Erotica” belongs to this group that within the oeuvre of the artist builds a special work complex of its own kind and importance.
?–Ralph Jentsch
?
A photo certificate attached verso, dated July 1, 1992 and signed “Richard A. Cohn,” art dealer, executor of the Grosz estate, and son of the important New York collector Erich Cohn, reads as follows:
This is to certify that the Woman Erotica oil on paper on this photo is an original by George Grosz - obtained directly from the George Grosz estate with the estate number #UC-337-14.”
The Cohns were strong supporters and friends of the artist. A portrait of Erich Cohn by George Grosz was sold at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Day Sale in New York on May 9, 2013. A watercolor, The fiddler, sold at Sotheby’s “Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale” on November 7, 2013, is inscribed “To my old beloved friends Erich and Helene.” Punishment, a watercolor by Grosz, is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, a gift of the Erich Cohns in 1934.
A certificate of authenticity recently obtained by Barridoff Galleries from Mr. Jentsch accompanies this lot, which will be included in his catalogue raisonné.
It came as something of a gentle surprise to learn while doing research for this “Erotica” that in the summer of 1949 and again in 1956 Grosz was a teacher at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine where the idea for Barridoff Galleries was born under the tutelage of the School’s founder, close friend, and mentor, Willard Cummings.
Richard A, Cohen, NY, 1992
La Pierre Estate, Ontario, Canada
To the current owner
17 1/2 x 21 1/2 in. 44.5 x 54.6 cm
George Grosz
Oil on paper
"Grosz," l.r. and estate-stamped "George Gross Nachlass" verso with the number as described below by Richard Cohn
verso

Good condition, good appearance.