TEFAF 2014
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George GROSZ (1893 - 1959) A dead Irishman speaks, 1941 Reed pen and pen and ink on paper, 1941 cm. 59 x 46 Inscribed "A dead Irishman speaks" lower right and "to Ben Hecth 1001 Afternoon" lower left. On the reverse with the Estate stamp and number "4-48-4" Provenance: Studio of the artist, Douglaston, Long Island, 1941 George Grosz Estate, 1959 Private Collection, Italy Illustration: Ben Hecht, "1001 Afternoons in New York", the Viking Press New York, 1941, illustrated page 233 Ben Hecht, "1001 Nachmittage in New York", Insel Taschenbuch 1323, Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig, 1992, illustrated page 261 Grosz got to know Ben Hecht (1894 - 1964 New York) and became friend with him in 1919, when Hecht worked as a correspondent for the Chicago Daily News for two yeras in Berlin. Grosz took Hecht to the eventful DADA evenings and happenings in Berlin. One time Ben Hecht was special guest of honour at the famous DADA demonstration: a race between six typewriters and six sewing-machines to the accompaniment of a swearing contest. That evening he was awarded the charter of an "Honourable DADA". In 1925 Hecht started working in Hollywood and became one of the most successful and highest-paid American script-writers of his time. He also became well-known as a writer. "1001 Afternoons in Chicago", "Child of the Century" and "The Sensualists" are among his best known works. In June 1941, Grosz was asked to illustrate Ben Hecht's new book "1001 Afternoons in New York", a collection of political newspaper writings. Grosz produced in an incredible short period 86 large drawings and a number of not published illustrations for the book. In the foreword "Afternoon of an Author" of his book, Ben Hecht points out that the articles he has written in 1940-1941 are mainly a crusade against the Nazis and calls the Third Reich a "hellish invention". In "A Dead Irishman Speaks", Hecht tells a story that happened to him when he was in Berlin in 1919. One day he received an anonymous letter to meet a person at the Palast Café at Potsdamer Platz who would stand there and whistle the refrain of the song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". The meeting took place with a person wearing the German military uniform, however on the cuff of his coat was sewn the figure of a shamrock. As it came out, this person was one of the few Irish prisoners that were fighting with the Germans against the British. However, as he pointed out to Hecht, they were trying to kill as many Germans as possible, and killing them in return they wouldn't, being their favorite bit of propaganda. Grosz's Ben Hecht drawings are distinguished by the determine and self assured use of the powerful reed pen and pen and ink. Their completion in such a short time and their convincing realization make them to one of the best works Grosz did as an illustrator in his American time. Ralph Jentsch

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