Klubbat för:

12000 SEK

Utropspris

15 000-20 000 SEK

Beskrivning

FAMOUS WORK OF THE GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM. GROSZ, GEORGE (1893-1959). Ecce Homo. Berlin, Malik-Verlag Printer Dr. Selle & Co. A.G. 1923. Ausgabe C.

Large 4to (c. 360x265 mm.). 84 offset- lithographs and 16 colour plates in offset, all unsigned. Title, verso plate list, list of colour plates, last page impressum with list of editions.
Publisher´s original printed wrappers (Bütten-paper), partly worn and soiled, some spotting, upper wrapper and spine loose in inner hinge. Title, plates lists and about 10 plates with some slight creases to upper margin (thumb-soiling), some minor spotting, otherwise fine.

This is "Ausgabe C", which apart from Ausgabe A, is the most complete of all 5 editions.
The total edition was about 10,000 printed copies. According to MOMA the originals were executed in 1915-23.
According to Dückers, the portfolios were printed in December 1922 and published in January 1923. The publisher offered purchasers 5 separate options:
Ausgabe A / Deluxe Edition A: numbers I-L containing 16 lithographs after watercolors and 84 lithographs loose in a silk portfolio, each print hand-signed by the artist.
Ausgabe B 1 / Deluxe Edition B 1: , numbers 1-100 containing just the 16 lithographs after watercolors, loose in a half-vellum portfolio, each print hand-signed by the artist.
Ausgabe B 2 / Edition B 2: the same as edition B 1, except unsigned in a handmade board binding,
Ausgabe C / Edition C: the same as edition A, except unsigned in a handmade board binding, edition size c. 6000-8000,
Ausgabe D / Edition D: just the 84 lithographs unsigned in a chromo board binding.

Grosz was prosecuted for "offences against public morality and for besmirching the values of the German people" (Kranzfelder, 59). Ecce Homo was found to be a slanderous attack upon the army, which won damages and the removal of 5 colour plates and 17 black and white plates from the portfolio in a law suit. Grosz was also fined 6000 marks. Since Grosz had been attacking the Nazis since the early 1920s and since he had singled out Hitler in particular, it is not surprising that after the Nazi´s took power in Germany, his works were singled out for ridicule and destruction. 285 of his works were removed from German collections and destroyed and the 1937 Munich Exhibition of Nazi-labelled "Degenerate Art" included five of his paintings, two watercolors, and thirteen drawings (Kranzfelder, p. 86).

Auktionsnummer:

6044

Datum:

2020-12-10