# George Grosz artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/george-grosz/
Profile generated: 2026-04-29T20:25:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1893-07-26
- Death date: 1959-07-06
- Nationality: German, American
- Movements: Berlin Dada, New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit)
- Common media: oil painting, ink drawing, watercolor, printmaking (etching, lithograph), graphic illustration

## About George Grosz

George Grosz (1893–1959), born Georg Ehrenfried Groß in Berlin, was a German-American painter, caricaturist, and graphic artist whose biting visual satire made him one of the defining figures of Weimar-era culture. A leading member of Berlin Dada and a pioneer of the New Objectivity movement, Grosz produced ink drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings that skewered the corruption, militarism, and social decay of 1920s Germany. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Dresden and the School of Applied Arts in Berlin before serving in World War I, an experience that radicalized his art. Fleeing the Nazi regime, Grosz emigrated to the United States in 1933 and became a naturalized citizen five years later. He taught at the Art Students League of New York for many years and gradually shifted toward a less overtly political style. In 1959 he returned to Berlin, where he died in July of that year. Works by Grosz are held by the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, and numerous other public collections worldwide.

## Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter Grosz's pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors of Berlin figures — prostitutes, wounded veterans, businessmen, and bohemians rendered in his sharp, linear style. Oil paintings from the early 1920s, often grotesque or satirical group portraits, appear less frequently. Print portfolios and individual etchings or lithographs from editions published in the Weimar years circulate widely. Later works include American landscapes, still lifes, and figure studies in a softer, more conventional manner. Illustration commissions for books and magazines also appear on the market.

## Market and appraisal context

George Grosz maintains a deep and liquid secondary market with 1,807 auction lots recorded since 1992, of which 1,159 carry realized prices. Activity is strong and rising: 122 lots appeared in the most recent twelve months, up from 114 the prior year. Works trade across a wide price spectrum — from $13 for minor prints to $9.74 million at the top end — with a median of $5,500 and an interquartile range of roughly $1,000–$15,000. The bulk of volume consists of ink drawings, watercolors, and printmaking (etchings and lithographs) from Grosz's Weimar-period Berlin output, which consistently draws the strongest collector demand. Oil paintings from the 1920s are scarce and command significant premiums. Later American-period landscapes and figure studies trade at lower but respectable levels; recent German-house results include a 1951 Manhattan oil at Lempertz for €26,000. Major houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Grisebach, Swann Auction Galleries, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Tajan, and Finarte — all appear among the top-ten venues, alongside regional specialists such as Dannenberg, Hampel Fine Art, Karl & Faber, and Van Ham, confirming broad institutional and geographic coverage across North America and Europe.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

George Grosz maintains a deep and liquid secondary market with 1,807 auction lots recorded since 1992, of which 1,159 carry realized prices. Activity is strong and rising: 122 lots appeared in the most recent twelve months, up from 114 the prior year. Works trade across a wide price spectrum — from $13 for minor prints to $9.74 million at the top end — with a median of $5,500 and an interquartile range of roughly $1,000–$15,000. The bulk of volume consists of ink drawings, watercolors, and printmaking (etchings and lithographs) from Grosz's Weimar-period Berlin output, which consistently draws the strongest collector demand. Oil paintings from the 1920s are scarce and command significant premiums. Later American-period landscapes and figure studies trade at lower but respectable levels; recent German-house results include a 1951 Manhattan oil at Lempertz for €26,000. Major houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Grisebach, Swann Auction Galleries, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Tajan, and Finarte — all appear among the top-ten venues, alongside regional specialists such as Dannenberg, Hampel Fine Art, Karl & Faber, and Van Ham, confirming broad institutional and geographic coverage across North America and Europe.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use this auction-record dataset as a comparable-sales foundation, then weight findings against the specific work's medium, dimensions, signature, condition, provenance, and edition details. With 1,159 priced lots spanning three decades, the dataset supports meaningful comparable-lot selection for most Grosz works. For prints, appraisers would narrow comparables by technique (etching vs. lithograph), edition number, plate condition, and whether the impression is from the original Weimar edition or a later restrike. For drawings and watercolors, subject matter (Berlin street scenes, political satire, nudes), period (Weimar vs. American), and condition of the paper support are primary discriminators. For oil paintings, provenance and exhibition history become critical given the wide gap between mid-tier works and the record-setting $9.74 million ceiling. Authentication of unsigned or undocumented works should reference the RKD's extensive catalogue (over 2,000 entries), museum holdings at MoMA and Tate, and the Library of Congress authority file.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- Grosz is a well-established name with high liquidity — over 1,800 auction appearances across three decades and activity at both top-tier and regional houses worldwide. Entry-level collectors can acquire original prints for low hundreds to a few thousand dollars; the median price point of $5,500 reflects accessible works on paper. Important Weimar-period ink drawings and watercolors typically fall in the $3,000–$15,000 range based on the interquartile spread. Major oil paintings are rare at auction and should be evaluated with expert guidance given the wide price ceiling. Buyers should distinguish between original Weimar-era print editions and later impressions, and should verify that American-period works match their collecting objectives, as these differ significantly in style and market positioning from the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity output that dominates Grosz's reputation. Market volume increased modestly year-over-year (122 vs. 114 lots), indicating stable collector interest.

### Market caveats

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### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/george-grosz/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-grosz-de-1893-1959-the-hero-51-c-cb9c2072d7

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist-identity research from museum, library-authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For George Grosz, identity data is grounded in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History), VIAF, Wikidata, and museum holdings records from MoMA and Tate.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50032968
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/34262
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Grosz
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107194
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/12309408/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2374
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-grosz-1223