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• 1 2018-05-22T14:47:05+00:00 Greed/"Eclipse of the Sun" 2 plain 2018-05-22T14:48:15+00:00
  George Grosz’ painting "Eclipse of the Sun" (1926) serves as a portrayal of  the proletarian oppression of the lower class by politicians. The depiction of the bureaucrats manipulating other people in power demonstrates their actions of misleading government officials and imprisoning people who may be against them. The colorfully dressed man represents the head of government and the man whispering in his ear represents the upper class, showing that the head of government listens to the wealthy man. Through the image of the upper class man carrying weapons, the artist shows that the wealthy has forsaken morality to sell weapons, ignoring the fragility of life for their own gain. As for the headless men, they are government officials, their missing heads representing the detachment of one’s personal ideas and beliefs for the sake of power and money. Meanwhile, voters are blind to the actual workings of their government, only fed what the government chooses to show them.
  
  The dollar sign in the background on the sun represents the overwhelming and always present desire for money. By depicting the American dollar as the sun, the bureaucrats around the table are given strength/energy to perform their devious work. In contrast to the anti-Semitic conspiracies elsewhere in this exhibit, this is a depiction of greed as a kind of conspiratorial motivator itself.
• 1 2018-05-22T14:32:43+00:00 Wrath/Eclipse of The Sun 1 plain 2018-05-22T14:32:43+00:00

  
  The Eclipse of the Sun is a primary example of George Grosz’s social caricature, focusing here on the ills of capitalism and the dream of a true republic in Weimar Germany. Almost every character in this image is an object of Grosz’s anger - the general uses religion to justify violence, the corrupt businessman whispers into the general’s ear, the empty suits around the table do nothing to stem the abuse of power, and the ignorant donkey, which represents the public, simply allows these things to go on in ignorance, especially of the prisoner right below its feet.
  
  Upon first look, one might not even notice the dim red sun in the top right corner, focusing instead on the colorful distortions of humanity around the war room table. Nonetheless, it is there, covered by a dollar sign. This leftist pessimism about the role money has in keeping people oppressed is the sort of indignation common to many works of the Weimar era. Much of Grosz’s other work shares similar themes, drawing on Dada anti-art stylings to present those complicit in the capitalist order as horrible and ugly.
  
  The piece itself suggests no particular alternative to the problems Grosz presents - there is no call to action or suggestion that these capitalist forces can be overcome. Rather, Grosz exhibits the wrath common to the extreme political forces of the Weimar era, and leaves the viewer to decide what to do with this anger.