Carl Grossberg (German, 1894–1940)

Grossberg studied architecture in Aachen and Darmstadt before being drafted into the First World War in 1914. After the war, he enrolled at the newly established Bauhaus in Weimar, where he studied with Lyonel Feininger until 1921. Coincident with the landmark Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) exhibition and the publication of Franz Roh’s book Nach Expressionismus (After Expressionism), both of 1925, Grossberg turned to industry and technology as subject matter.

Beginning in the late 1920s, he received numerous commissions to render industrial projects from companies such as Berlin’s electric utility (BEWAG); while also establishing an interior design practice, where he worked with modern architects including Peter Feile and Erich Mendelsohn. In 1934, the year after the Nazis came to power, Grossberg was the subject of a monographic exhibition at Hanover’s progressive Kestner-Gesellschaft art association. The same year, he contributed a major wall mural on the subject of “industrial landscape” to the important Deutsches Volk—Deutsche Arbeit (German People—German Work) trade fair in Berlin.

Grossberg’s sharp, precise brand of realism was not antithetical to the aesthetics of the Nazi regime, and his work was not included in the notorious Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition of 1937. In 1938, Grossberg was drafted again. In 1940, he died in occupied France following a car accident.

* * *

Our Grossberg holdings are among the deepest of any public or private collection in the United States or Germany. In 2017–2018, Harvard’s Busch-Reisinger Museum presented Carl Grossberg: Works from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, the first monographic presentation of the artist’s work in an American museum. This installation was accompanied by a catalogue by then curatorial fellow Melissa Venator. Adrian Sudhalter’s in-depth, scholarly volume Carl Grossberg: New Forms in the World of Technology (see cover image at left), published by Hirmer, will be appear in December 2025 and is available for pre-order now via The University of Chicago Press.

Click here for Sudhalter’s essay on Grossberg’s 1935 painting Stahlmöbel (Steel Furniture) in our online journal, Research, no. 3 (June 2024).

 

Drawings

Carl Grossberg
Oberweimar, March 1, 1920
Charcoal on paper
12 7/8 x 11 1/2” (33 x 29 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Untitled (Fan or Turbine), c. 1938
Ink, watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
15 7/8 x 19 1/2” (40.3 x 49.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Maschinenhalle (Machine Hall), 1924
Graphite on paper
19 1/8 x 25” (48.6 x 63.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Hobelmaschine (Planing Machine), Koenig & Bauer, 1924
Graphite on paper
15 3/4 x 19 5/16” (40 x 49 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Drawing for Kaffeerösterei (Coffee Roasters), 1933
Graphite on paper
15 5/8 x 19 1/2” (39.7 x 49.5 cm)

Prints (Bewag, Berlin)

Carl Grossberg
Aushebung des Hafens
(Excavation of the Port), 1929
Sheet 2 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
15 1/8 x 19” (38.4 x 48.3 cm), plate size

Carl Grossberg
Vor den Kesseln (View of the Boilers), 1930 or 1931
Sheet 8 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
25 1/4 x 18 3/4” (64.1 x 47.6 cm), plate size

Carl Grossberg
Vorwärmerhalle (Preheater Hall), 1930
Sheet 5 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
15 1/2 x 19 5/8” (39.4 x 49.8 cm), plate size

Carl Grossberg
Maschinenhalle (Machine Hall), 1931
Sheet 10 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
15 5/8 x 19 1/2” (39.7 x 49.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Kühlwasserpumpen (Cooling Pumps), 1930 or 1931
Sheet 6 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
15 1/2 x 19 1/2” (39.4 x 49.5 cm), plate size

Carl Grossberg
Bekohlungsanlage (Coaling Station), 1931
Sheet 7 from the series BEWAG, Kraftwerk West (Berlin Municipal Electric Company, Power Plant West)
Lithograph
15 1/2 x 19 1/2” (39.4 x 49.5 cm), plate size

Paintings

Architecture

Carl Grossberg
Komposition mit Kirche zwischen Häusern (Composition with Church between Houses), 1923
Oil on canvas
19 1/2 × 15 3/4" (50 × 40 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Amsterdam, Rokin, 1926
Tempera on canvas adhered to laminate wood structure
19 7/8 x 23 7/8” (50.5 x 60.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Würzburg, Grombühl, 1924
Oil on canvas
10 5/8 x 12 5/8” (27 x 32 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Köln, Hauptbahnhof (Cologne, Central Station), 1927
Oil on laminate wood structure
23 1/2 × 27 1/2 × 5/8" (60 × 70 × 1.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Würzburg, Wagnerei (Würzburg, Wainwright Workshop), 1925
Oil on canvas
15 x 19” (38.1 x 48.3 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Marktbreit, 1931
Oil on canvas
27 1/2 x 23 1/2” (70 x 60 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Amsterdam, Brouwersgracht, 1925
Oil on canvas
20 x 23 3/4” (50 x 60 cm)

Industry

Carl Grossberg
Drawing for Drawing for Vorbereitungssaal (Preparation Hall), G. L. Pott & Hinrichs, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1935
Graphite, watercolor, and thin applications of gouache on paper
19 1/2 x 15 5/8” (49.5 x 39.7 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Konstruktion (Construction), 1928
Oil on laminate wood structure
15 × 10 8/8 x 7/8” (38 × 27 × 2.25 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Vorbereitungssaal (Preparation Hall), G. L. Pott & Hinrichs, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1935
Oil on commercially prepared hardboard with pre-applied ground on recto, verso, and edges
19 x 15 3/4 x 1/2” (48.3 x 40 x 0.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Stahlmöbel (Steel Furniture), 1935
Oil on commercially prepared hardboard with pre-applied ground on recto, verso, and edges
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1/2” (40 x 50 x 0.5 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Drawing for Jacquard-Weberei (Jacquard Weaving Mill), G. L. Pott & Hinrichs, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1934
Graphite on paper
19 1/2 x 15 3/4” (49.6 x 40 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Jacquard-Webereien (Jacquard Weaving Mill), G. L. Pott & Hinrichs, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1934
Oil on commercially prepared hardboard with pre-applied ground on recto, verso, and edges
19 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 1/2" (50 x 40 x 0.5 cm)

Dream Paintings

Carl Grossberg
Komposition “Renaissance 1929” (Composition “Renaissance 1929”), 1929
Oil on laminate wood structure
18 3/4 x 15 x 1” (48 x 38 x 2.6 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Untitled (Traumbild [Dream Picture]), 1939
Oil and graphite on commercially prepared hardboard with pre-applied ground on recto, verso, and edges
25 5/8 x 21 3/8 x 1/4” (65 x 54 x 0.5 cm)

 Deaccessioned Works

Carl Grossberg
Zandvoort , 1925/26
Oil on canvas
23 4/8 x 19 11/16” (60 x 50 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Maquette for the temporary mural Industrielandschaft (Industrial Landscape), c. 1934
Oil on two pieces of hardboard joined by two metal hinges at center
23 5/8 x 88 1/2” (60 x 225 cm)
Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection; now the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge

Carl Grossberg
Automobilstraße (Automobile Street, also known as AVUS), 1928
Oil on wood
17 1/4 x 27 1/2” (44 x 70 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Stahlskelett, Reichsluftfahrtministerium Berlin (Steel Frame, Reich Aviation Ministry, Berlin), 1935
Oil on hardboard
25 1/2 x 21” (65 x 54 cm)

Carl Grossberg
Komposition mit Turbine (Composition with Turbine), 1929
Tempera and oil on laminate wood structure
23 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1/2” (59.7 x 69.9 x 1.1 cm)
Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection; now the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge

Carl Grossberg
14 preparatory studies for the temporary mural Industrielandschaft (Industrial Landscape), 1934
Watercolor and graphite on paper
Sizes range from: 6 7/8 x 19 11/16” (17.5 x 50 cm) to 13 1/8 x 37 3/16” (33.3 x 94.5 cm)
Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection; now the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge

The works shown here represent only a selection from the collection. Please contact us for further inquiry.