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Discussion in 'Art' started by Frank, Aug 19, 2021.

  1. Frank

    Frank Well-Known Member

    This German woodblock print was returned to me recently. From 1924, it's titled "Death and the Doctors", by Hans Friedrich Grohs.

    Does anyone know if any of his works have come on the market recently? P1200506 (2).JPG
     
  2. Lithographer

    Lithographer Well-Known Member

    You are very lucky to have gotten it back, it is a great woodcut. I saw a few estimates from about 5-6 years ago. I would think you would see some improvement from then.
     
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  3. Frank

    Frank Well-Known Member

    Do you recall what the estimates were?
     
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  4. Lithographer

    Lithographer Well-Known Member

    They seemed to be in the 150-300 euro range. No final results, I don’t have an account.
     
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  5. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

  6. David Broom

    David Broom Active Member

    Wow, brilliant piece. I'd definitely get it valued by a specialist auction house.
     
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  7. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    Hans Groß that became Hans Grohs because the American keyboards are missing the ß (or sharp S) after a collection was brought to the US was a Nazi artist - party-member since 1930 and follower of the Nordische Kunst idea (pure Blut und Boden) - that is not traded widely; he has fallen into oblivion in Europe completely contrary to Fidus which still has a following due its esoteric component.
    I'd contact the Grohs Collection Trust, maybe they know more.
    https://de.gofundme.com/f/help-preserve-hans-grohs-grave-sculpture
     
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  8. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    This biography pretty specifically disagrees:
    https://collection.mmfa.org/artist-maker/info/190

    In 1934, Grohs was invited to join the faculty of the Nordische Kunsthochschule in Bremen. As a teacher, he stressed craftsmanship and worked to incorporate the teaching of applied arts into the fine arts program. During this period, his work ranged from designs for stained-glass windows to sculptures, tapestries, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and interior decorations.
    In 1937, the Nazi regime declared Grohs a degenerate artist. His art was confiscated and destroyed, and he was forbidden to paint, sell, or exhibit work that was considered to touch upon religious or social protest themes. Despite this prohibition, Grohs continued to work on his poetry and painting, signing his works with the pseudonym "H. Gross Pahlen".(4) In 1943, Grohs was drafted into the Army and sent to the Russian Front as a foot solider, but he was released within a year because of poor health. His works from this period suggest a deep sense of despair, and Grohs eventually abandoned painting altogether.
    After the war, Grohs returned to the Dithmarschen, but it was not until the late 1950s that he began to paint again.
     
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  9. David Broom

    David Broom Active Member

    Are you sure? I thought Grohs was one of Goebbels' 'degenerate' artists. (edit - sorry, hadn't seen intervening post.)
     
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  10. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    I'm absoluetly not interested in the post-war US interpretation of Nazi artists that somehow survived and made it to the US. to put more weight of the "pleasing" aspects of his biography to keep him acceptable for selling his stuff was common practice in the post-war years. see Emil Nolde and you understand.
    besides that there were many artists that were forbidden to exhibit and then suddenly were shown in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung.; a.o.
    Georg Curt Bauch that was rather on the Fidus line - vegeterian, living near Monte Verità, Lebensreform etc. which I saved a big lot from destruction by his family.
    I have no interest in such discussions.
    sorry if it's of no help - I couldn't care less.
     
  11. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    Emile Nolde is an interesting case and does demonstrate how impressions can be manipulated. But Emile Nolde is a sufficiently important artist that people are willing to do the in-depth and independent research. If Hans Grohs is another instance of similar manipulation, it will likely never be known. He is a minor artist and it seems that most of the information about him comes from his own descendants.
     
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  12. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    bravo ! at least one person that starts to understand instead of running around and rolling their eyes and resting in their self-inflicted cage of idiocy and intellectual ignorance !
    "that most of the information about him comes from his own descendants"
    of course. especially when you only research in English and on the net then you're lost, then you entered the vicious circle of not wanting to know/not daring to know/ showing "parrot-intelligence" by repeating the made-up stories of others.
    this is the typical case of a Nazi family that made it over the pond and had been out of a sudden at all times "only" very good Christians and it was certainly no coincidence that they chose Birmingham, Alabama, to start their new life ! there they could feel - thanks to segregation - once more as Northern Übermenschen and become members in a bigot and racist society.
    having said that we must be fair, he was a good artisan, but not outstanding.
     
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  13. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    one of the most bizarre cases is Arno Breker. still highly regarded as artist but politically ....
     
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  14. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    the standard dictionary/encyclopedia used by "all" auction houses for German artists and others is Thieme-Becker. 37 vol. with 7 additional vol. by Vollmer.
    thiemekompl (800x384).jpg
    gross.jpg

    so, in the serious literature he's not worth more than a snippet and lost out of sight after 1940.
    according the German Wikipedia the story of his being hunted as "entartet" is a hoax of the director of the Birmingham Museum of Art named John David Farmer in 1978 (!!!) only.
    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Grohs

    I personally would go "down south" - very south - to Bariloche in Argentina and donate it to the city, become a Honorary Citizen with a life-long free beer licence at their Oktoberfest. :) Prost.
     
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