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"the life of an artist is (financial speaking) very often like riding in a Berg&Thalbahn - up & down - up & down again"

Grosz, George, painter (1893-1959). 75 (49 autograph and 26 typed) letters and 10 autograph (picture) postcards, mostly signed.

Mostly New York and Long Island, but also Berlin, London and Ronchi (near Florence), 1930s to 1950s.

Altogether (50¼+22¼+10=) 82½ pp. on (49+26+10=) 85 ff. Various formats. Includes 3 autograph letters from his wife Eva.

Amicable correspondence with his friends and patrons Bernard and Rebecca Reis about diverse matters, including the arrival of the German writer Hermann Borchardt, who (as a result of the efforts of Grosz, Brecht, and Max Warburg) had been released from the Dachau concentration camp in May 1937 and was allowed to emigrate to the USA, Grosz' acquaintance with John Dos Passos, his financial situation, and paintings he has made, bestowed, or sold (some of which are still unpaid). "I got word, the friend of ours you signed the affidavit for - is coming now on the Deutschland 18th of June this week - Bernard now it is necessary in order to get him from the boat, that you have to come down to the pier - and please, anyway, take some money with you - you know sometimes (if they are nasty) they ask for that - I d'ont [!] think we will have any difficulties - but Eva wrote me about our friend and I think she got that advice from the U.S. consul in Berlin. Hans [Hermann] Borchardt was released recently from the conc. camp - and he was still trembling and shaking - and one hand is still hurt (something happened to him) he is going to stay with us [...]" (15 June [1937]).

"[...] (You see Dos Passos is in town and so I must go to him, as he has no time in the afternoon leaving for Cap Code [!] - we [are] working together on those titles for the plates in the book)" (undated; the book mentioned is probably "George Grosz", edited by Imre Hofbauer in 1948, with a preface by Dos Passos).

"Thursday John Dos Passos came for a visit and stayed overnight. He was in good spirits and one hardly recognised that one eye is artificial. He seems to work on a new novel and that is very good for his mind I think" (3 Jan. 1948; Dos Passos had lost his wife and one eye in a car accident on 12 September the previous year).

"This year seems not to[o] good - but the life of an artist is (financial [!] speaking) very often like riding in a Berg&Thalbahn - up & down - up & down again" (28 March 1945).