Ecce Homo

Ecce Homo is a collection of drawings by German artist George Grosz, published in 1922. The title, Latin for "Behold the Man," is a reference to the biblical phrase used by Pontius Pilate when presenting Jesus to the crowd before his crucifixion.1

Grosz's Ecce Homo uses a graphic style to deliver sharp social criticism. His drawings savagely attack militarism, war profiteering, the stark divide between rich and poor, social decay, and Nazism in postwar Germany. The collection features depictions of the wealthy elite, such as fat Junkers and greedy capitalists, alongside the working class, including factory laborers, the poor, and the unemployed. Grosz was associated with the Berlin Dada movement and later with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement, which employed realism for satirical social commentary.2