By Grace Schwindt
George Grosz, Untitled, 1919, watercolour, reed pen and ink on paper, 40 x 27.5 cm. Courtesy Richard Nagy Ltd., London; Private Collection
In a new series, frieze invites artists to present a series of images that are important to them
George Grosz, Untitled, 1919
I have always looked to drawing and painting for inspiration, including the works of those artists connected with New Objectivity, such as Christian Schad and Raoul Hausmann, and then John Heartfield, Hannah Höch and many of the dada artists.
This is a watercolour that the German artist George Grosz made when he was in his mid-twenties, and like the other works that sit around it, it demonstrates how the young artist envisaged his own reality as something of a fantasy. Flick through the collection and you will find a slew of fantastical characters lifted from fairy tales as well as an array of artists like Wilhelm Busch, Ritter von Grützner and Eduard Theodor that influenced him from an early age.
The sixth part of Grace Schwindt’s ‘Portfolio’ will be available tomorrow.