$16,510
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000
What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Part II
Auction: February 28, 2024 at 12 PM ET
Signed ‘GROSZ’ bottom right; also with ‘George Grosz Nachlass’ stamp verso (1/74/3), watercolor and ink on paper
Sheet size: 15 3/8 x 19 9/16 in. (39.1 x 49.7cm)
Executed in 1942.
The Artist.
The Estate of the Artist.
Sotheby's Arcade, n.d., lot 71 (per sticker verso).
Acquired directly from the above sale.
The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Grosz developed an interest in erotic subjects as early as 1912, but it was not until 1937-1941, almost as a conscious effort to forget the atrocities of WWII, that the artist concentrated his work, almost exclusively, on the depiction of the female nude - as revealed by the present work. In most cases, Grosz' wife Eva posed for him in the studio as appeared to be the case here. Her expression, halfway between false modesty and open sensuality, suggests the special bond between the model and the artist. Her voluptuous body, generous in form and color, erupts on the paper, almost like a sculpture, while the rest of the composition is blurred out.