George Grosz: the Stick Men

Abstract

"George Grosz created his last major series of paintings and watercolors, the 'Stick Men,' beginning in the mid-1940s in reaction to the devastating news about the Holocaust and the other atrocities of the Second World War. The deployment of atomic bombs at the end of the war, and the threat of a Third World War, further deepened his pessimistic vision of mankind's future. He presented his 'Stick Men' as dehumanized, famished beings aimlessly wandering through a contaminated, post-apocalyptic world. Assembling important loans from European and American collections, Das kleine Grosz Museum and The Heckscher Museum of Art dedicate this exhibition to a body of work which has not been seen since its initial presentation during the artist's lifetime, forcefully contradicting the widespread misconception that Grosz had become 'soft' and apolitical during his American years. The contrary is true: his 'Stick Men' series is the culmination of the political and artistic convictions of a lifetime of struggle--an artistic legacy that, given the current state of the world, could not be more timely and relevant."-- On back of cover.