Lot 306 D

Otto Griebel's explicit caricatures - which he created for the guest books of Fritz Glaser and also, in more moderate form, for other friends and collectors - have become famous. In the 1920s the Dresden lawyer Dr Fritz Salo Glaser (1876-1956) gathered an impressive collection of Expressionist art and supported the Dresden artists Otto Dix and Otto Griebel, who frequently enjoyed the hospitality of his home. In richly detailed drawings which incorporate satirical texts and are sometimes coloured in or provided with collaged elements, Griebel immortalised his anarchical sense of humour. “In the guest books popular at that time, Griebel had the chance to show his gratitude for invitations and could let loose with his humorous fantasy, which became exuberant in company. […] In his decidedly humorous drawings, Griebel often adopted formal elements from the compositions of his 'Zeitbilder' as well as the interweaving of image and text established in those works. Particularly in the sheets for Fritz Glaser, most of which were probably created in the company of and sometimes also in collaboration with other artists, Griebel seems to have spontaneously taken up themes from the conversations going on at the moment.” (Johannes Schmidt, in: Otto Griebel: Verzeichnis seiner Werke, Bielefeld 2017, pp. 53 f.).