NEW ACQUISITION
26th August 2010

Interrogation by George Grosz

Ben Uri Gallery has today announced that it has bought a dramatic watercolour by distinguished German artist George Grosz. The painting captures the horrors of WWII.

The detailed, evocative watercolour depicts a horrific scene of a man being tortured by Nazi soldiers. Painted in a free, illustrative style, it shows off Grosz’s skilful use of the medium and his flair for capturing the moment.Interrogation is one of only three known fully executed watercolours of this subject painted in the years 1936 to 1939 following his emigration to the USA in 1933. In this important but deeply disturbing example, Grosz shows the brutality exactly as he understood it.

George Grosz (1893 –1959) is renowned for challenging the politically corrupt regime and the decadence in Germany in the 1920’s and early thirties through his sardonic and cutting satirical compositions. He was a modern day pioneer of using almost graffiti like illustrations to challenge the establishment. Though not Jewish, Grosz correctly feared for his life and fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and soon after his arrival in New York his work was declared ‘Degenerate’ in Germany.

Grosz’s oeuvre is greatly under-represented in UK public collections with only 18 examples of his work available for public view. Aside from illustrated publications, only six of these works are housed in London museums; The British Museum and the V&A have one print each, Tate has four original works on paper from 1916, 1919, 1925 and 1930 and the Imperial War Museum has 3. This example will be included in the museum’s Holocaust Learning Pack as part of our Art in the Open programme articulating all the social history narrative it stimulates. The work will be a major feature in the museum’s planned ground breaking exhibition surveying German, Russian and British war artists and those like Grosz, Levy, and Chagall who used their art to comment from the side.

Jonathan Horwich, Chairman of the Museum’s Acquisitions Committee said:“Grosz is one of the first half of the twentieth century’s most influential artists and led the concept of using graphic satire to motivate and communicate political views and challenge the establishment. This work has all the characteristics of Grosz at his best and is a world class example which matches the museum’s principal collecting criteria. It is a great coup for Ben Uri and London to acquire such a rare and visually compelling work."

Sarah MacDougall, Chair of the Collection Committee said: “We are indebted to both funding bodies and supporters for facilitating the purchase of this rare and important work. This work adds significantly not just to Ben Uri’s holding of ‘war time’ works but also to that available by Grosz to London audiences. It is revealing and telling to have Grosz’s inscription at the bottom of the work: “un kannste uns ma wat komisches vortanzen Jenosse, det haste doch so scheen in Moskau jelernt” (Berlin dialect), translated where he wrote “And, can’t you dance something entertaining for us comrade, you learned this so beautifully in Moscow, indeed.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund said: “This beautifully executed watercolour is both powerful and disturbing. Works of art such as this help tell the stories of our past to future generations, and that’s why it’s so important that this work is on public display. We’re delighted it is now a permanent part of the Ben Uri Gallery, enriching its already impressive collection of works from this period.

‘Interrogation’ (1936-38) was purchased for the Gallery with vital help from membership charity the Art Fund, which led the campaign along with crucial support from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Montgomery Gallery in San Francisco and private donors.