George Grosz (1893-1959)

The artist on the origins of his remarkable group of nudes in oil painted the 1940s: "She turned away from me now and showed me her magnificent back. Enchanted I ogled the generous spheres of her bottom, and the charming little dimples above them. I noticed the folds of fat, not uncommon in lovely women, and stared with delighted astonishment at the large dark place that like a downy heart lay just beneath her slightly protruding belly....The vision of that Rubenesque woman followed me and haunst me to this day, for I have never been able to shake off that revelation......Often, when I paint, I can still see that lamplit bedroom" (G. Grosz, A Little Yes and a Big No, 1948, pp. 21-23).