Cover, from the cycle Behind the Curtain

The Cycle Behind the Curtain (1924) from Czech artist Emil Artur Pittermann-Longen is the story of the morally dubious rise and fall of an artist-theatre actor. He ridicules the art world - the audience’s debased taste, artists’ servility and professional critics - with light autobiographical innuendo (Longen was actively involved in theatre from 1911). The cycle produced after Longen’s experience in Berlin (1923) develops a pictorial narrative in expressionist abbreviation and with a socially critical tone like Georg Grosz. Grosz’ work was well known in the Czech milieu and was exhibited from as early as the 1920s. Život magazine published a piece by the artist about his work in 1924. Besides the Devětsil art group, Grosz influenced, among others, the drawings of František Tichý, Otakar Mrkvička and, especially, František Bidlo.