George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959)

                                                                          

Kurfüstendamn 

1925 

After World War I, with Germany in tatters and the ineffectual Weimar Republic operating, New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) came to light. It was an incredibly pessimistic and misanthropic style that was in some ways a reaction to and serious critique of the Expressionist movement. George Grosz, the focus of this post, was one of the movement's chief artists (Otto Dix was the other).

Metrópolis

1916-1917 

Strasse in Berlin

1922-1923

The final painting is a bit strange, simply from the fact that it's not really strange at all. In fact, the piece bears a much greater similarity to Impressionism than it does to New Objectivity. It is perhaps Grosz's moment of calm in an exceedingly stormy life (I won't get into all the details of his difficult existence, suffice it to say that he was torn from his country by his loathing of Hitler and died falling down a flight of stairs from drunkenness).

High Dunes

1940