Aenne (plate, folio 47) from Ecce Homo
George Grosz
American, born Germany. 1893–1959
1922–23 (original executed in 1921)
A spare, candid plate from Grosz’s Ecce Homo — an offset lithograph reproduction that uses a few blunt, calligraphic lines to present a seated, unidealized nude and force a direct encounter with the body.
You notice first the economy of line — a few sure, sometimes trembling strokes that trace weight, breast and thigh, a blunt, slightly caricatured face that meets the viewer, and a wide field of empty paper that makes the figure feel both intimate and exposed.
Placed within Ecce Homo and the Weimar milieu, the image rejects academic idealization and uses the reproducible illustrated‑book format to confront bourgeois sensibilities, democratize imagery, and expose human vulnerability with austere modernist clarity.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with 100 offset lithograph reproductions
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 11 7/16 × 7 1/2" (29 × 19.1 cm); page (each approx.): 13 11/16 × 9 13/16" (34.8 × 25 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
854.1964.38
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
