George Grosz (1893-1959): The Stick Men Presentation by Karli Wurzelbacher, PhD, Huntington (New York)

George Grosz (American, b. Germany, 1893–1959) created the “Stick Men” series in Huntington, where he lived from 1947 until shortly before his death. Featuring hollow figures in an apocalyptic landscape, this group of watercolors offers a searing indictment of humanity following World War II, the Holocaust, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Grosz was an internationally renowned German-born artist who remained invested in political art following his immigration to the United States in 1933. In the “Stick Men” series, he wrestles with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism and reaffirms the ability of painting to impact society.

Karli Wurzelbacher, PhD, is the Chief Curator of The Heckscher Museum of Art, where she has curated more than a dozen exhibitions. She has also worked at the Baltimore Museum of Art in Maryland and the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio. Wurzelbacher has published on artists including Grosz, Courtney M. Leonard, Joan Mitchell, Louise Nevelson, Joseph Stella, and Jack Whitten. She earned a PhD in art history from the University of Delaware.

This talk is presented on the occasion of the exhibition George Grosz: The Stick Men, on view at The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, from May 11 through September 1, 2024. It was organized in collaboration with The Heckscher Museum of Art.

This event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression” organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, New York.

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