George Grosz: A Piece of My World in a World Without Peace

January 11 - June 03, 2024

George Grosz, Cookery Class, 1958, Collage

The special exhibition at Das Kleine Grosz Museum focuses on the lesser-known collages by George Grosz and spans a wide range of styles from Dada to Pop Art.

This exhibition, curated by Birgit Möckel and Rosa von der Schulenburg, presents around 100 works from the art collection and archive of the Akademie der Künste, from the George Grosz Estate as well as from public and private collections.

Original, Playful and Satirical Artworks

The title "A Piece of My World in a World Without Peace" had already been used for a retrospective exhibition of the artist's work in New York in 1946 which features works from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. These early photomontages with graphic elements are evidence of Grosz's artistic and political co-operation with John Heartfield and Wieland Herzfelde's Malik publishing house. Today, they still strike viewers as original, humorously playful and at the same time satirically accurate commentaries on "life and hustle and bustle" in the rapidly growing metropolis of Berlin.

Representing American Consumer Culture

Later, in the USA, it was above all the beautiful, new world of goods that provided Grosz with inspiration, motifs and themes. To represent and appropriate the "typically American", he collected photographic images with the aim of becoming a successful "businessman" as an artist. Looking at advertising brochures and print adverts, collecting seductive offers, cutting them up and collaging was a method of playfully and critically dealing with foreign cultural experiences for Grosz. He composes single-sheet collages and greetings on postcards from snippets and clippings from advertising adverts that affirmatively reflect the world of consumer goods.

At a Glance

• Exhibition: George Grosz: A Piece of My World in a World Without Peace
• Location: Das kleine Grosz Museum
• Start: 11 January 2024
• End: 3 June 2024
• Opening Hours: Thursday to Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Admission Fee:
  €10, reduced fee €6