| Eclipse of the Sun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | George Grosz |
| Year | 1926 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 207.3 cm× 182.6 cm(81.6 in× 71.9 in) |
| Location | Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington |
Eclipse of the Sun is an oil-on-canvas painting by German artist George Grosz, painted in 1926. It is held at the Heckscher Museum of Art, in Huntington, New York, where it is the most famous painting. [1] [2]
The painting represents Grosz's harsh indictment of the political and economical realities of Germany during the Weimar Republic, specially the economic interests who dominated the new regimen. It depicts several characters around a table before the backdrop of a burning city. The central figure is the President, Paul von Hindenburg, recognizable by his long moustache and his military uniform with medals. He sits with bared teeth, wearing an ironic crown of laurel at his head. A bloodied sword and a funerary cross on the table in front of Hindenburg are a reminder of his role in World War I, and the lives lost. Four headless financiers are also at the table, in formal attire. A corpulent industrialist, with a top hat, and with small weaponry and a miniature train under his arm, whispers discreetly at the President's ear. The implication is that the headless government ministers cannot think for themselves, and simply obey the commands of the capitalists and the military. [3]
A donkey, wearing blinders decorated with the German eagle, stands facing a feeding trough full of papers while balancing on a board tied to a skeleton. The donkey is interpreted by art historian Ivo Kranzfelder as a symbol of the German people, represented as accepting whatever is put in front of them. [3] At the right, one of the headless men rests his foot on the prison bars below him, through which a prisoner's face is seen. At the top left is a darkened sun illuminated by the American dollar sign. This is a reference to the investment of American finance in the German economy after World War I. [4] [5] [6]
The painting was brought by Grosz to the United States when he moved there in 1933. It was thought lost but was found at the home of a house painter, Thomas Constantine, who had kept it rolled up in his garage for several years. When it was found, it was exhibited at the Harbor Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor. A fund-raising effort by the Heckscher Museum of Art's first professional director led to the museum's acquisition of the painting for $15,000 in 1968. [7]
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz and Max Beckmann, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit.
George Grosz was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity groups during the Weimar Republic. He emigrated to the United States in 1933, and became a naturalized citizen in 1938. Abandoning the style and subject matter of his earlier work, he exhibited regularly and taught for many years at the Art Students League of New York. In 1959 he returned to Berlin, where he died shortly afterwards.
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Events from the year 1933 in art.
Events from the year 1917 in art.
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The Heckscher Museum of Art is named after its benefactors, Anna and August Heckscher, who in 1920 donated 185 works of art to be housed in a new Beaux-Arts building located in Heckscher Park, in Huntington, New York. The museum has over 2300 works of art, focused on American and Long Island artists, as well as featuring American and European modernism, and photography. The most famous painting in the collection is George Grosz's "Eclipse of the Sun" (1926). Four to five changing exhibitions are featured each year.
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The Poet Max Hermann-Neisse is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1927 by German artist George Grosz. It depicts his personal friend, the writer and cabaret critic Max Herrmann-Neisse. The portrait is exemplary of the New Objectivity artistic approach. It is held at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
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