Impressions of Dallas

When Leon Harris, Jr., the vice president of A. Harris & Company commissioned German satirist George Grosz for a series of works portraying the young city of Dallas in 1952, we can only assume the art world was taken aback.

Grosz had made a name for himself in Europe and even America as an acerbic satirist, caricaturist and an oftentimes overtly political painter. He was famous in the 1930’s and 1940’s for series of drawings such as Interregnum, a chronicle of the rise of German militarism from 1924 to 1936. An avid hater of Fascism and an open communist, many of Grosz’s paintings had been banned in America during the 1940’s and 50’s due to his subversive political ties.

How did it come to be that a young (and seemingly conservative) city such as Dallas would offer such a controversial artist his first commission? Regardless, commissioned he was.

Specifcally Grosz was commissioned to commemorate the 65^th anniversary of A. Harris & Company Department Store (later to become Sanger-Harris), and the resulting works were meant to illustrate the landscape, economy and society of Harris’ city. In a broader context they were also intended as a public relations campaign; tying Harris, his clientele and his city to a broader and international cultural context.

In 1952 Grosz, the German artist who had always been fascinated by the allure of the West but never thought he would see Dallas himself, travelled to our “Flower on the Prairie” to see what the city was all about. Twenty works from the series are currently on display at the Dallas Museum of Art for the first time in sixty years; twenty works that at least attempt to portray a city in transition.

Naturally Grosz expected a frontier outpost full of horses and cowboys. What he saw instead was a city in flux. A modern metropolis of tall buildings, freeways and business-people, and his paintings convey an element of that surprise.

The final watercolor in the exhibit, “Flower of the Prairie” for which the exhibition is named is the best example of this surprise. An image of Dallas’ skyline seems to magically emerge from a yellow backdrop and blue “flower.” The beautiful image illustrates Dallas’ reputation as a city in the middle of nowhere (at the time) with no obvious reason for its existence and success.

Throughout the exhibit it is clear Grosz was not only surprised but enthralled with the culture, the people and the buildings of Dallas. Images of Dallas in the 1950’s will fascinate locals, and serve as an education for others as the Dallas Museum of Art’s curatorial team has painstakingly re-created the history of each of the building’s Grosz portrayed from the Adolphus Hotel to Republic Tower to the Mercantile Building, the only “skyscraper” built in the country during World War Two.

While serving as a gorgeous illustration of a beautiful city, the paintings also serve a larger purpose and inspire more questions than answers. What, really, were Grosz’s impressions of Dallas? And why Grosz anyways?

Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz in Dallas will be on display at the Dallas Museum of Art through August 19.  Visit www.dallasmuseumofart.org for more information and don’t miss this beautiful snapshot of Dallas history.