Georg Gross (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) – a famous German artist of the twentieth century, an outstanding painter, graphic artist and cartoonist of his era. Georg Gross was a fierce opponent of the war and the ideology of Nazism. In his paintings, he ridiculed the vices and class contradictions of Western society. In the work of the master, one can find features of various styles of avant-garde art, including Dadaism, Expressionism and Futurism.

Georg Gross also created many skillful illustrations for the books of German writers, a number of lithographs and political drawings. He spent over 20 years teaching at the Art Students League of New York. For outstanding services to the arts, he was elected an honorary member of the American and Berlin Academies.

Biography of Georg Gross

Georg Gross was born on July 26, 1893 in the capital of Germany in the family of the owner of a beer tavern. At the age of seven, the boy lost his father. While still in elementary school, he became interested in drawing and began taking private lessons with a local painter.

But George failed to get a certificate of secondary education for a very remarkable reason. He was expelled from school for ugly behavior. Nevertheless, in 1909, a talented young man was accepted to study at the Dresden School of Applied Arts.

In 1912, Georg Gross continued to study the basics of painting at the Berlin College of Arts and Crafts. It was then that he began to paint oil paintings. And soon after the outbreak of World War I, the young man volunteered for the army. However, he served only six months and was declared unfit due to chronic sinusitis.

After demobilization, Gross became an ideological pacifist for life. In addition, in protest against the dominance of German nationalism, the young artist changed his name to George. At the end of the surname, the letter of the German alphabet ß to its phonetic analogue sz.

At the end of the First World War, Georg briefly became interested in Dadaism.

But after the November Revolution of 1918, he joined the Communist Party of Germany and decisively broke with Dadaism.

In 1920, Gross married Eva Peters and lived with her for the rest of his life. In marriage, George had two sons. Their first son became a well-known aviation historian, and the other a popular jazz musician.

In 1922, the young artist, together with his friend, the Danish writer Martin Andersen Neksø, decided on a very risky adventure. They really wanted to visit Soviet Russia. Upon arrival in Murmansk, they were arrested on charges of espionage.

Gross stayed in Russia for half a year and during this time he was able to personally communicate with Lenin, Trotsky, Lunacharsky, Karl Radek. His impressions of the trip were very negative. Despite the warm reception of the Bolsheviks. Georg understood that in Russia after the revolution a rigid totalitarian regime was formed.

Anti-bourgeois views

Upon his return to Berlin, the artist defiantly left the ranks of the Communist Party of Germany, but remained faithful to anti-bourgeois views. Until the Nazis came to power, Gross exposed the vices of capitalist society in his paintings. Due to the acute social orientation of the work, Georg Gross was repeatedly brought to court and paid heavy fines. But his irreconcilable position was enthusiastically perceived by the general public.

In late 1932, Gross was invited to work permanently in the United States and was offered a teaching position at the Art Students League of New York. Georg and his family decided to move to America. Shortly thereafter, he was declared in his homeland an adherent of “degenerate art.”

The American period of the artist’s career turned out to be the most calm and profitable. He made a living painting and teaching. He also published drawings in satirical magazines and took part in numerous exhibitions. With the money he earned, George bought a spacious house in the suburbs of New York.

In the late 1950s, the artist was awarded the title of full member of the Academy of Arts in West Berlin. And soon he decided to finally return to his homeland. The 65-year-old painter flew to the divided capital of Germany in June 1959, but his life was absurdly and tragically cut short a few weeks later. On July 6, Georg Gross, in a state of extreme intoxication after a grand party, fell down the stairs and died in his home.