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© Estate of George Grosz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
The Wanderer
194330 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
George Grosz
United States (Berlin, Germany, 1893 - 1959, West Berlin, Germany)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
1951.6
Location: Currently on view
Collection:
Encyclopedia Britannica Collection
Ten years after fleeing Germany during Hitler’s rise to power, George Grosz painted The Wanderer in New York. As World War II raged over the ocean, Grosz created this intensely personal response to his experience as a German soldier in World War I and his 1933 emigration to the United States.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
Painted in the midst of World War II, The Wanderer is an expression of the artist’s recent life experience. George Grosz was an established painter in Germany who, like many others, spoke out against the totalitarian Nazi regime. For his own safety and that of his family, he relocated to the United States. The Wanderer was one of a group of so-called ‘hell pictures’; in a letter, he wrote:
I work a lot…I painted a little picture – The Wanderer –
myself of course…The resonance of explosion and
destruction often shakes me bodily.
The explosion and destruction was a reference to the war-torn European continent that he had left behind, as well as a reference to his own emotional volatility as he tried to adjust, with little success, to his new life in America, suggested in the painting by the seagrasses he knew from Long Island and Cape Cod beaches.
The Wanderer was probably one of the newest paintings acquired for the Encyclopedia Britannica Collection, as the collection was formed in 1943, the same year that Grosz painted this work. Stylistically, the painting’s expression of personal and cultural angst – achieved through desolate subject matter, somber palette, and unquiet line – was very much an alternative view to the more upbeat images of wartime artists like Norman Rockwell.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
[Gallery label text, 2007]
Painted in the midst of World War II, The Wanderer is an expression of the artist’s recent life experience. George Grosz was an established painter in Germany who, like many others, spoke out against the totalitarian Nazi regime. For his own safety and that of his family, he relocated to the United States. The Wanderer was one of a group of so-called ‘hell pictures’; in a letter, he wrote:
I work a lot…I painted a little picture – The Wanderer –
myself of course…The resonance of explosion and
destruction often shakes me bodily.
The explosion and destruction was a reference to the war-torn European continent that he had left behind, as well as a reference to his own emotional volatility as he tried to adjust, with little success, to his new life in America, suggested in the painting by the seagrasses he knew from Long Island and Cape Cod beaches.
The Wanderer was probably one of the newest paintings acquired for the Encyclopedia Britannica Collection, as the collection was formed in 1943, the same year that Grosz painted this work. Stylistically, the painting’s expression of personal and cultural angst – achieved through desolate subject matter, somber palette, and unquiet line – was very much an alternative view to the more upbeat images of wartime artists like Norman Rockwell.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
Marks
Other inscriptions on back of frame, illegible or written on top of each other
Provenance
Encyclopedia Britannica Collection of Contemporary American Painting, Chicago, IL; purchased from them by Senator William Benton, CT, 1948; purchased from him by the Gallery in 1951
Keywords
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wandering jew
Imaginary figure of a Jerusalem shoemaker who, taunting Jesus on the way to crucifixion, was told by him to "go on forever till I return." See good article in Jewish Encyclopedia
Imaginary figure of a Jerusalem shoemaker who, taunting Jesus on the way to crucifixion, was told by him to "go on forever till I return." See good article in Jewish Encyclopedia
Audio & Video Resources
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Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Contemporary American Painting Encyclopaedia Britannica 4/12/1945 - 7/30/1950
- New Accessions of American Painting from the Encyclopaedia Britannica Collection 1/19/1951 - 2/28/1951
- George Grosz Whitney Museum of American Art 1/14/1954 - 9/19/1954
- The Bird in Art University of Arizona 11/7/1964 - 2/14/1965
- 20th Century Vision Memorial Art Gallery 1967-1968
- George Grosz: Works in Oil 7/1/1977 - 9/4/1977
- Through the Looking Glass 12/6/1980 - 1/25/1981
- George Grosz: An Artist for 1984 Hofstra University 9/9/1984 - 10/21/1984
- Die Nibelungen: Bilder von Liebe, Verrat und Untergang Haus der Kunst 12/5/1987 - 2/14/1988
- Images of World War II SFA Gallery 3/28/1992 - 5/29/1992
- George Grosz: Berlin - New York Neue Nationalgalerie 12/21/1994 - 7/30/1995
- The Art of Freedom: Anti-Facism and Resistance in Europe Palazzo Ducale 11/16/1995 - 3/3/1996
- Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler Los Angeles County Museum of Art 2/20/1997 - 1/4/1998
- Zeit im Blick: Felix Nussbaum und die Moderne 12/5/2004 - 3/28/2005
- Richard Wagner, Visions d'artistes: d'Auguste Renoir a Anselm Kiefer Musée Rath 9/23/2005 - 1/29/2006
- Richard Wagner: Visions of Artists from Auguste Renoir to Anselm Kiefer 10/25/2007 - 1/20/2008
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Title: New Accessions of American Paintings. Article Scope: Article. Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, New York: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995. Volume Number: 15, Issue Number: 5. Issue Date: April-May, 1950.
- Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1961.
- Article Author: Pagano, Grace. Article Title: The War - As Seven Artists in the Britannica Collection See It. Article Scope: Article. Art Digest. New York, New York: Art Digest, Inc. Volume Number: 19, Issue Number: 13. Issue Date: April 1, 1945. Page Number: 36
- Docent Newsletter. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- Article Author: Ziegler, Ulf Erdmann. Article Title: Despised Pleasures. Article Scope: Article. Art in America. New York, NY: Art in America Volume Number: 84, Issue Number: 1. Issue Date: January 1996. Page Number: 82
- Article Scope: Entry. Eva Ingersoll Gatling. George Grosz: Works in Oil. Huntington, NY: Heckscher Museum, 1977.
- Article Scope: Entry. Die Nibelungen: Bilder von Liebe, Verrat und Untergang. Munich, Germany: Prestel-Verlag, 1987.
- Article Scope: Article and reproduction. The Great Artists: Grosz. London, England: Marshall Cavendish Partworks, Ltd., 1986. Volume Number: 4, Issue Number: 92.
- Images of World War II. Lufkin, TX and Nacogdoches, TX: Museum of East Texas and SFA Gallery, 1992.
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Ziva Amishai-Maisels. Depiction and Interpretation: The Influence of the Holocaust on the Visual Arts. New York, NY: Pergamon Press, 1993.
- Article Scope: Entry. George Grosz: New York - Berlin. Berlin, Germany: Ars Nicolai, 1994.
- Omnibus - Enemy of the State. London, England: BBC tv, 1987.
- Daedalus Works 1984-1994. Theobaldgasse, Austria: Daedalus, 1995.
- Article Scope: Entry. The Bird in Art. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona, 1964.
- Article Scope: Entry. John I. H. Baur. George Grosz. New York, NY: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1954.
- Article Scope: Entry. George Grosz: An Artist for 1984. Hempstead, NY: Hofstra University, 1984.
- Article Scope: Mention. Elizabeth Brayer. Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1913-1988. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1988.
- Memorial Art Gallery. ARTiculate. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2000--.
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Stephanie Barron and Sabine Eckmann. Exiles+Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1997.
- Rosamunde Neugebauer. Zeim im Blick: Felix Nussbaum und die Moderne. Bramsche, Germany: Rasch Verlag, 2004.
- Article Scope: Entry and reproduction. Paul Lang. Richard Wagner, visions d'artistes : d'Auguste Renoir à Anselm Kiefer. Geneve, Switzerland: Somogy Editions d'Art, 2005.
- Article Author: Norwood, Nancy. Article Title: George Grosz: The Wanderer. Article Scope: Chapter and reproduction. Marjorie B. Searl, ed. Seeing America: painting and sculpture from the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2006. Page Number: 258-261
- Article Scope: Entry and reproduction. Ralph Jentsch and Barbara McCloskey. George Grosz: The Years in America 1933-1958. Ostfildern, Germany , German: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2010.
- Article Author: Phongsamouth, Phouthavong. Article Title: Untitled poem. Article Scope: Poetry. Community Voices in the Gallery: a Collection of Writings by Members of our Community Inspired by Works of Art at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2009. Page Number: 41
- Article Author: Josenhans, Frauke V.. Article Title: (Re) Defining the "I" in Exile. Article Scope: Discussion and reproduction. Frauke V. Josenhans. Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 2017. Page Number: 192-193, Figure Number: 6, p. 193
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Alexander Kluy. George Grosz: König ohne Land: Biografie. Munich: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2017.
Portfolio List
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This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans
Seeing America Inservice
Materials from a teacher in-service presentation Spring 2008
Seeing America
Chapter on George Grosz's The Wanderer, written by Nancy Norwood.
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