Yale University

George Grosz, "The American Scene"

Author(s): Esther da Costa Meyer
Source: Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Spring, 1980), pp. 4-7
Published by: Yale University , acting through the Yale University Art Gallery
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40514202
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Fig. i GeorgeGrosz,
GeorgeGrosz(1893-1959),
Harlem Street. TheAmericanScene
SabarskyGallery,New York.

Estherda Costa Meyer

In the summerof 1932, at the invitation

of theArt Students'League, George
Grosz arrivedin Americaforthe first
time.The invitationitselfwas theobject
of considerablecontroversy and ended in
theresignationof both thepresidentand
the directorof theleague,the latter
havingdeclaredthatGrosz was not a
"healthyinfluencefortheprogressof
Americanyouth."1The reasonsbehind
the uproarare not hardto guess.Grosz
had achieveda well-earnedreputationas
the "pitilessDaumier of a torturedGer-
many."2The taskhe had set was to ex-
pose, by meansof his art,the mechanisms
of totalitarianismin Germanyand the
corruptclassesthatcontrolledtheprocess.
His pictorialmeans were congruentwith
his aims. He had developed earlywhat he
termedhis knife-edgeline bestsuitedto
depicthis indictmentof Germansociety.
The sharpconcisionof his drawing
broughtthe spectatorintoimmediatecon-
tactwiththe social and politicalsignifi-
cance of the workin question.Grosz was
notconcernedwithprovidingtheviewer
witha purelyaestheticexperience.
Like all German intellectualsof his
generation,the artistsuffered froman
acute case of Grossstadtpessimismus* and
saw the modernmetropolisas a monster
thatwrestedeverytraitof individuality
fromits inhabitantsand reducedthemto
a featureless,amorphousmass.Grosz' main
targetwas thequintessentialGerman
bourgeois: smug,self-satisfied,stillliving
in an imaginaryWalhalla withthe sounds
of Siegfriedand the versesof Goethe
ringingin his ears,totallyblind to the
tragicrealitybroughtabout by war and
defeat.
When the invitationto teachat the
ArtStudents'League arrived,theWeimar
Republic was on the brinkof collapse.
Bitterlydisillusionedwiththepolitical
situationand withhis own art,whichhad
provedso powerlessto avertcatastrophe,
Grosz came to Americain the hope of
startingboth life and artafresh.One week
afterthe artistleftGermany,Hitler took
4

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powerand Grosz was declared"Bolshevik
EnemyNo. i."
In theUnited Stateshis workunder-
wenta drasticchange in contentas well
as style.Hithertohis arthad servedto
expressmeaningsoutsideitself.The
politicianin him stuntedthegrowthof
theartist:"The finerartist,"he latersaid,
"thepainterthatlived withinme, was
somehowrepressedand forcedintothe
background."4
Manhattanfascinatedhim with its
wealth,modernityand above all, withthe
ethnicand culturaldiversityof its in-
habitants,and Grosz'searlyworksin
Americashow thetremendousimpactof
New York City ( Figs. 1,2). This young,
vigorouspopulationof self-mademen
contrastedsharplywiththe humanmisery
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Fig. 2
George Grosz,Shoe Shine.
SabarskyGallery,New York.
in Berlin: "One had the impressionthat Footnotes
1
Americansof all races,classesand profes-
Quoted in "Mild Monster,"
sions were at one withtheworld,and this unsignedarticlein Time,
Americanworld,superficially, seemed 20 June1932,p. 20.
muchmorecolorful,muchricherthan 2
the German."5 Rom Landau, quoted in
RichardBoyer,"ProfileHI,"
The AmericanScene,a Grosz water-
The New Yorker,11 Decem-
colorgiven to Yale by Mr. Fitch ( Fig. 3 ) ber 1943, p. 39.
is an excellentexample of the new 3
"American"George Grosz. The signature See Beth IrwinLewis, George
on the versobearsthedate 1932, which Grosz: Artand Politicsin
the Weimar Republic,
indicatesthatit was executedduringthe
Madison, Wis., 197 1, p. 15.
artist'sfirstsummerat the ArtStudents' 4
League.6This workshowsthe artistexam- George Grosz,A LittleYes
iningthecitycrowdwiththegustoof a and a Big No, New York,
Baudelaireflâneur.The urbansetting 1946, p. 274.
itselfis no longerimportant.What Grosz 5
Ibid., p. 266.
attemptsto captureis the fleetingflowof 6
faces,gesturesand costumes,the human The rectoshows another
 writtenmuch
inscription,
later,whenGrosz presented
the drawingto a former
student:"To Caesar / to
remember/ his old teacher/
George Grosz / Douglaston /
Nov. 39."
6
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configurations whichincessantly alterthe stock,notfarfromBayside,Long
physiognomy of the citystreets. Island,whereGroszhadsettledwithhis
Butitis notonlyGrosz'sattitude family.ButKuniyoshi's presencein this
towardthecitywhichchanged. Afterre- drawingis ofsymbolic as wellas bio-
defining hisartisticaims,Groszalso graphicimport. Whatmusthavemadea
developednew, more appropriate tech- deepimpression onGroszwasKuniyoshi's
and
niques began to dwellon the"artistic" Americanization, hissuccessfulintegra-
sideforitsownsake.Topicalsignificance tionas artistandcitizenintoa radically
wasstillimportant butwasnotallowed differentculture.Grosz,likemanyother
to dominate. Groszinterpreted American politicalexiles,wasdesperately trying to
city sceneslessin terms ofline than in achieve thisgoal,thechance to erase the
patchesofcolor.In The American Scene, pastandbeginlifeanew.Thisis,in fact,
byallowingtheliquidwashestobe ab- thethemeofall Grosz'sdrawings of the
sorbedbytheirregularities oftheporous period(Fig. 4). As a closeinspection will
paper,he achieveda grainytexture that reveal,Grosz'saverageAmerican wasof
givesthecolorsa lifeoftheirown.He diverseethnicandcultural origins.These
didawaywithdarkhuesaltogether, figuresweremorethanverifiable city
leavingonlysoft,luminous ones. types;theywerelivingproofoftheun-
One elementin theiconography of limitedpossibilities
thatthecityheldfor
Yale's watercolor is ofparticularinterest. them.In thisrespect,New Yorkwas
Grosz'sfriend, theartist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, muchmorethana precisegeographical or
is prominently featured in thecenterwith historical entityforGrosz;itwasa
a "Y" pullover. The twomenundoubtedly metaphor expressiveofthepossibility
metat theArtStudents' Leaguewhere ofrebirth.
bothtaughtin 1933.Groszalsovisited
Kuniyoshi at thelatter'shomein Wood-
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Fig. 3 Fig. 4
George Grosz,The American George Grosz,New York
StreetScene. Sabarsky
Scene, 1932. Watercolor,
i8!4 x 22^ inches.Yale Gallery,New York.
UniversityArtGallery.Gift
of GeorgeHopper Fitch,B.A.
1932. I953.29-I

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