George Grosz (1893-1959), “Gefährliche Straße”. Estimate: £4,500,000-6,500,000 (Courtesy of Christie’s)
On February 5, 2020, George Grosz’s highly politicized masterpiece “Gefährliche Straße” will be auctioned for the first time at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The auction house is also launching its ‘20th Century at Christie’s’ on the same day.
Grosz’s painting forms a major highlight of the auction series. It will be presented a century after it was first exhibited at the artist’s solo show at Munich’s Galerie Neue Kunst. “Gefährliche Straße” has remained in the same private collection since 1970 and was last seen in public over two decades ago in 1999, in the exhibition “Die Nacht” at the Haus der Kunst, in Munich.
According to Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s, the “Gefährliche Straße” belongs to the celebrated First World War series of city paintings by Grosz. Camu further adds that only three of the original 20 or so cityscapes (ten in museums, seven lost or destroyed) remain in private hands. “Grosz with all his corrosive wit and a mastery of colour here combines futurist dynamism and expressionist fervour to convey his hatred of Germany and contempt for its establishment. He has added an angry self-portrait in the lower right corner of the composition.”
“Gefährliche Straße” or (Dangerous Street) depicts WWI and its ramifications felt on the streets of Berlin. Grosz painted it during the last months of the War in July 1918. Considered to be the finest of all the artist’s achievements these paintings define the traumatic era within which they were created. The painting to be auctioned is “one of the last and most accomplished of this famous series of apocalyptic paintings,” Christie’s adds.
The fragmented vision of a dark and dangerous street is rendered with forms and figures that are rich in colour combinations and depicted through new-found clarity and precision.
Grosz’s painting will be on view in the King Street galleries in London from January 30 through February 5, 2020.
The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Auction takes place on February 5, 2020, part of ‘20th Century at Christie’s’, a series of auctions in London from January 30 to February 14, 2020.
For more details, visit: https://www.christies.com/?sc_lang=en&lid=1
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