Abstract
The Great War was a highly traumatic event that rocked the Western world and beyond and had a tremendous effect on the professional lives of those who served in the conflict. Included among those profoundly changed by the experience of the war was George Grosz, whose art grew increasingly subversive in light of the horrors of what he had seen both on the battlefield and in the tumultuous political atmosphere of post-war Germany. This article uses the individual experience of Grosz to speak more generally about the German experience during and after the conflict, particularly through engagement with artist's illustrations and paintings. A number of works are covered which speak to the themes of dehumanization in modern armed conflict, mental and physical war wounds, religion on the front lines, as well as post-war socialism and other political activism in the Weimar Republic.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Ocwieja, Jeff Michael
(2014)
"Art as Political Struggle: George Grosz and the Experience of the Great War,"
Grand Valley Journal of History: Vol. 3:
Iss.
2, Article 2.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gvjh/vol3/iss2/2