More than ten years ago, gallery owner Juerg Judin transformed a derelict 1950s Shell filling station into an urban oasis for living and working. Sited near an elevated metro track near Nollendorfplatz is an enchanted world where bamboo and pines sprout in the garden, ducks swim in the pond and the station roof acts as a giant sunshade. Now Judin is opening this architectural jewel to the public as a museum dedicated to the artist George Grosz. Das kleine Grosz Museum – complete with new annex – will open this Saturday (14.05.2022) with an exhibition that focuses on the early work of the Berlin caricaturist, painter and graphic artist. Works include drawings from Grosz’s youth as well as his cityscapes that gave a foretaste of Germany’s Golden Twenties.
Curation for the show is led by art historian Pay Matthis Karstens and Grosz estate custodian Ralph Jentsch. Working with collections and institutions worldwide, the pair identify and present aspects of the artist’s work that retrospectives have yet to touch on. Research and exchange are to be at the center of the project, which is initially scheduled to run for five years. After visiting the exhibition, you can sit in the cafe in the former filling station and see for yourself the idyll that has been created right in the midst of urban Berlin.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Hanna Seibel & Annette Kisling / Credit: Estate of George Grosz, Princeton, VG Bild-Kunst
Das kleine Grosz Museum, Bülowstr.18, 10783 Berlin–Schöneberg; map
Opening 14.05.2022, then Mon & Thu 11–18h, Fri 11–20h, Sat & Sun 11–18h. Tickets for €10 (€6 reduced) are available online.
The exhibition “Schreiben Sie doch bitte Grosz statt Gross” (“Please spell it ‘Grosz’ not ‘Gross’!”) runs until 30.09.2022
@daskleinegroszmuseum
