GEORGE GROSZ

We would like to thank Ralph Jentsch for confirming the authenticity of the work, Berlin/Rome, 5 March 2019.

Provenance:
- Studio of the artist, Berlin, 1929.
- Estate of the artist, 1959.
- Private collecton, Geneva.
- Private collection, Boston.
- Sotheby's, New York, auction 15 May 1986, lot 155 (there with the title "Nude with Bathrobe" and the wrong date 1938-40).
- Christie's, New York, auction 9 October 1986, lot 148 (there with the title "Nude with Bathrobe" and the wrong date 1938-40).
- Private collection, Switzerland, bought at the above auction.

Throughout his career as an artist, Grosz always had a strong liking for erotic subjects.
This started as early as 1912 with his move from Dresden to the metropolis Berlin and culminated in large drawings and watercolors in the late twenties.
In most of these scenes, the artist's wife Eva was modeling for him, being his favorite model next to her sister Lotte. Lotte, a professional photographer, who was married to the Berlin artist Otto Schmalhausen, was using her plate-back camera to photograph Grosz's work in his studio. Very often, both sisters, Eva being brunette and Lotte being blond, used to model for Grosz, the artist depicting them as naked playmates. Or Eva modeled alone for the artist and was portrayed by him in her seductive beauty like in this very watercolor.