George GROSZ."Daum" marries her pedantic automaton "George" in May 1920, John Heartfield is very glad of it (Meta-Mech. Constr. after Prof. R. Hausmann), collage, 1920“Daum” is an anagram of Maud, the name that George Grosz gave to his girlfriend and later wife, Eva Peter. The title of the picture refers to the marriage of this obviously highly unsuited couple. Only scantily clad, with her natural corporeality still quite visible, Daum stands next to George, an automaton assembled from body and machine parts. He shows no interest whatsoever in the provocative physical attractions of his bride, who – amazed and abashed – turns towards the motionless mechanical being. Vital sensuality and emotionality versus cool, mechanical functionality – this contrast is emphasised through the conflict between the traditional technique used to depict the soft, rounded forms of the young woman and the montage of materials from which the bridegroom is made up.The black and white reproduction of this “meta-mechanical construction” belonged to the portfolio “With Brush and Scissors. 7 Materialisations” published by Malik in 1922. Grosz, who preferred mixing different techniques to creating purely material images, collected his Dadaist works from 1919 to 1922 in this portfolio.
"Daum" marries her pedantic automaton "George" in May 1920, John Heartfield is very glad of it (Meta-Mech. Constr. after Prof. R. Hausmann)1920Watercolours over drawing pen, collage on card, 42 x 30.2 cmAcquired with funds from the Foundation DKLB, 1979
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2011
