16. Rudolf Grossman
(1882-1941)

Pianist with Harlequin and Dancers

(click on image to print)
Grossman, Pianist with Harlequin

Pianist with Harlequin and Dancers

Lithograph, ca. 1930, 290 x 325 mm. Fine impression on tan laid paper with full margins, signed in pencil. Grossman was an incredibly prolific artist of the later German Expressionism and, with many others, an exemplar of “degenerate art” as defined by the Nazi party. We know little about him, apart from the art itself, except that he is the one pictured in Max Beckmann’s famous etching Der Zeichner in Gesellschaft (The Artist in Society), where he is shown in the assemblage, sketching, something he apparently did at every opportunity. He studied briefly in Germany, more extensively in Paris, and worked largely in Berlin. The style of most of his work is immediately identifiable. We have other works by him.