id: 142808 accession number: 1966.50.b share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.50.b updated: 2022-04-05 09:01:09.582000 Amalie, Ida, and Set Designs (Studies for Goll's "Methusalem") (verso), 1922. George Grosz (German, 1893-1959). Graphite; sheet: 52.7 x 38 cm (20 3/4 x 14 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1966.50.b © Estate of George Grosz / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY title: Amalie, Ida, and Set Designs (Studies for Goll's "Methusalem") (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1922 creation date earliest: 1922 creation date latest: 1922 current location: creditline: Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art copyright: © Estate of George Grosz / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY --- culture: Germany, Berlin, 20th century technique: graphite department: Drawings collection: DR - German type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * George Grosz (German, 1893-1959) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 52.7 x 38 cm (20 3/4 x 14 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: cream wove paper (now discolored to light brown watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: verso, lower left, in graphite: No 22 [sideways]; lower left, in graphite: 1498a [upside down, circled]; upper left, in blue crayon: 33 [underlined]; by artist, center right, in graphite: blau; by artist, lower right, in graphite: rot; by artist, lower right, in graphite: gr; lower right, in graphite: 470 [sideways]; lower right, in graphite: mha; by artist, upper right, in graphite: [illegible] / No ["o" underlined twice] 7 Student / zu Methusalem / von Iwan Goll [sideways]; upper right, in graphite: [illegible] / 40.4126 [sideways] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Tendencies of the Twenties opening date: 1977-08-14T04:00:00 Tendencies of the Twenties. Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 19, Germany (August 14, 1977-October 16, 1978); Städelsches Kunstinstitut im Städtischen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, Franfurt am Main, Germany (November 10, 1977-January 8, 1978). title: Dada Revisited opening date: 1978-06-30T04:00:00 Dada Revisited. Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (organizer) (June 30-September 15, 1978). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * cma 1966; Berlin/Frankfurt 1977-78, 3/51, 3/261, fig. 3/663; London 1978, 94, fig. 4.34; Akron 1978; Boston/Fort Worth 1980-81 [12, 26]; Cleveland 1981, 29, no. 14 (repr.); Madison 1985-86, [3] (repr.), insert; cma 1989-90. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: George Grosz's interest in mechanization extended to his drawing practice: he used drafting tools, like a straight-edge and compass, to execute works such as this one. digital description: Student belongs to a series of drawings George Grosz made for Iwan Goll’s 1921 play Methusalem: The Eternal Bourgeois. This satirical drama pitted a radical student against Methusalem, a bourgeois capitalist. Grosz’s drawing shows the student’s costume; the actor would have spoken from behind a full-size, mask-like shield made from various machine parts and other commonplace objects. The hinged metal head reveals the inner workings of a corrupt or incompetent mind. In Grosz’s characterization, neither the radical student nor the bourgeois capitalist was more righteous than the other. Grosz was an outlier to Expressionism, rejecting the idea of the artist as mystical prophet in favor of the artist as an ordinary worker, an idea inspired by the socialist rhetoric of the day. wall description: Student is one of a series of drawings George Grosz made for Iwan Goll’s 1921 play Methusalem: The Eternal Bourgeois. This satirical drama pitted a radical student against Methusalem, a bourgeois capitalist. Grosz’s drawing shows the student’s costume; the actor would have spoken from behind a full-size, mask-like shield made from various machine parts and other commonplace objects. The hinged metal head reveals the inner workings of a corrupt or incompetent mind. In Grosz’s characterization, neither the radical student nor the bourgeois capitalist was more righteous than the other. Grosz was an outlier to Expressionism, rejecting the idea of the artist as mystical prophet in favor of the artist as an ordinary worker, an idea inspired by the socialist rhetoric of the day. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. page number: Mentioned: P. 246-47, 297; Reproduced: P. 248, cat. no. 104 url: --- IMAGES