Life Of An Artist

My hometown has a local museum, The Heckscher Museum of Art. The Museum is small but noteworthy. It contains prominent work by Huntington's most famous artist, a German-born painter named George Grosz (1893-1959). There are many fascinating things about George worth learning.

George was thrown out of traditional school for insubordination. He then happily attended art school where he effloresced. George, an anti-war pacifist, left Germany in 1932 as the Nazis were gaining power. He moved to Huntington and became an American citizen. George taught art both in Huntington and at a prominent school in Manhattan (The Art Students League of New York). 

While George's work was respected, he was financially poor. Just scraping by at one point he lacked funds to pay a car-repair bill. To make money for that expense George sold one of his best paintings ("Eclipse of the Sun") to a local handyman for $104. The buyer kept the painting rolled up in his garage for 20 years. In 1968 the handyman sold the painting to The Heckscher Museum for $15,000. Several years later the Museum proposed selling the painting again and had it appraised: the then-current value was $19 Million dollars. Vigorous public outcry rang out against a sale and the Museum dropped its plan. The painting, and several others by George, remain the core of The Museum's collection. There's currently a big exhibition of George's work at The Museum.

For those playing Art Bingo: (1) George got kicked out of school for insubordination; (2) he succeeded as an artist; (3) he made little money from his work; (4) the work later became worth millions; (5) George died at age 66 from falling down stairs at the end of a night of heavy drinking. If you have all these facts on your Art Bingo card, please come forward and collect your winnings. :)