Ecce homo.

84, XVI S. : nur Ill. (z.T. farb.) ; 26 cm Frische und saubere Ausgabe mit Umschlag. All sixteen colour plates from the uncensored BII edition, Malik-Verlag, Berlin 1922/23 "Ecce Homo, perhaps the most famous graphic series by Georg Gross, who in 1916 in a fit of disgust for his German contemporaries changed his name to the more American George Grosz, is a compendium of uncommented biting visual satire, a stylistic mixture combining the furious exuberance of a Hieronymus Bosch, a Futuristic love of speed and the geometric stringency of Cubism. Like all great satire, it also has a serious subtext and, as the title suggests, is full of references to the universal themes of humanity. The works offer an almost encyclopaedic view of life in Berlin between the wars, with its “babbitts”, con men, war invalids and war profiteers, and the legions of modern slaves or, as we would call them today, “service providers”, at their beck and call. In that regard, Berlin stands as a symbol of the “normal” urban insanity of the Modernist period, which makes the series highly relevant to today’s world as well. No one gets off scot-free with Grosz (not even the artist himself, shown with a black eye), and even gentlemen thieves and white collar criminals get caught in the end. The pictures evoke Döblin’s novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, which was published a couple of years later and may be regarded as the literary equivalent of Ecce Homo. In both cases, the insignificant yes-men and moral cowards are out to gain whatever small advantage they can, at any time and at any price, and the “bosses” are arrogant, cynical and brutal. If Grosz shows any sympathy, it is towards those at the bottom of the social pecking order, such as prostitutes, who sometimes radiate a majestic dignity. In that regard, Grosz is following in the footsteps of artists with a social conscience like Daumier or Van Gogh. In spite of the extensive use of soft chalk, Daumier sharply illustrated the shortcomings of his contemporaries, while Van Gogh, at least in his early period, communicated his allegiance to the underprivileged with gentleness and pathos. Grosz’s Ecce Homo has a little of both of these, not least on account of the technique used, which was intended to enable the drawings to be reproduced as offset lithographs: pen and ink for the black and white pictures and a soft watercolour brush for the colour drawings." (Gallery Hoch Druck)

Bildband / Graphik ; Grosz, George, a Bildende Kunst, Kunstgewerbe