Produced in New York during the early years of World War II, this painting personifies Germany as Mars, the God of War. Here, the deity appears as a Nazi soldier decorated with a laurel wreath and feathers, his hand raised as if in salute to Hitler.
The artist, George Grosz, had a long history of political and social engagement. As early as the 1920s, he and other young artists in Germany began to produce works that critiqued the shortcomings of the Weimar Republic, the country’s first democratically elected government. When the Nazi Party became a mass movement, Grosz recognized that his work would lose political efficacy and become subject of censorship; he immigrated to New York in 1932. In 1936, watching the continued rise of European fascism from afar, he began depicting allegorical, antimilitaristic scenes in drawings and watercolors. Painted in 1940 God of War continues the themes explores in these earlier depictions.
Date
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verso: signed, dated, and labeled "George Grosz/ 1940/ Douglaston" "George Grosz Estate" stamp and estate number 1-11-3
Dimensions
119.5 × 90 cm (47 × 35 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Promised Gift of Robert J. Buford
Reference Number
Obj: 241048
Extended information about this artwork
Ralph Jentsch, ed., George Grosz: Berlin-New York (Milan: Skira, 2008), cat. 308 (ill.).
Juerg M. Judin, ed., George Grosz: The Years in America, 1933–1958 (Berlin: Galerie Nolan Judin, 2009), pp. 148–49 (ill.).
Barbara McCloskey, The Exile of George Grosz: Modernism, America, and the One World Order (Oakland, Calif.: University of California Press, 2015), pp. 46 (ill.) and 47.
Hartford, CT, The Austin Arts Center of Trinity College, Widener Gallery, George Grosz 1893– 1959: “The New Objectivity”: Oils, Watercolors, Drawings, Sketch- Books, May 17–June 30, 1966, cat. 1.
Huntington, NY, The Heckscher Museum of Art, George Grosz: Works in Oil, July 1–Sept. 4, 1977, cat. 49.
Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institution, George Grosz: Works in Oil, Sept. 13, 1978– Jan. 14, 1979, cat. 25.
Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen, George Grosz: Berlin–New York, Dec. 21, 1994–Apr. 17, 1995, cat. IX.60.
New York, Associated American Artists Galleries, George Grosz: Berlin–New York, Dec. 12, 1995–Jan. 27, 1996, cat. 25.
Paris, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville, Années 30 en Europe: Le temps menaçant 1929–1939, Feb. 20–May 25, 1997, cat. Grosz-IX.
Kamakura, Museum of Modern Art, George Grosz: Berlin–New York, Apr. 8–May 21, 2000; Itami, City Museum of Art, June 10–July 30, 2000, Tochigi, Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Aug. 6–Sept. 24, 2000.
Berlin, Galerie Nolan Judin, George Grosz: The Years in America, 1933–1958, Feb. 18–Apr. 25, 2009, cat. 49.; New York, David Nolan Gallery, Sept. 16–Oct. 31, 2009.
Chicago, The Arts Club, George Grosz in America 1933–1958, May 12–July 23, 2010, no cat. no.
The artist, New York; by descent to his estate, 1959 [Estate no. 1-11- 3]; sold through the David Nolan Gallery, New York, to Robert J. Buford, Chicago, 2019; offered as a promised gift to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019.
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