Bustling New York City street scene Watercolor on Michallet paper under glass Signed lower right: Grosz, numbered verso: (10), watermark for Michallet lower right corner 23.25" H x 18.25" W Provenance: Sale: Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco/Los Angeles, October 26, 1995, Lot 2429 Property of a Rancho Mirage Collection Notes: German-born artist George Grosz (1893-1959) would also be considered an activist by today's standards due to his politically-charged satirical cartoons that were critical of the Weimar German government and its aristocratic society. In 1924 and 1928 he was prosecuted by the authorities for making work that was deemed pornographic and blasphemous. His outspokenness made life difficult for Grosz in his native country. Eventually, he began to receive threats from his own studio assistants! Grosz's figurative style of elevated caricature is what he is most known for even though he had exceptional drawing skills that may have helped land him a teaching job at Art Students League in New York. In 1932, and without hesitation, he accepted the position and relocation in order to protect his family. Subsequently, he ended his public criticism of society and politics. Although a quote made later in life suggests that he had not entirely given up on his strong political opinions: "My motto was now to give offence to none and be pleasing to all... Anyone who plans to get ahead and make money would do well to have no character at all. The second rule for fitting in is to think everything beautiful!? Everything, that is to say, including things that are not beautiful in reality."