Carl Grossberg – Der gelbe Kessel (1933)

Louisiana Poster with the work, Der gelbe Kessel - The Yellow Kettle, (1933), by the German artist, Carl Grossberg (1894-1940). The poster was published in 2022 in connection to Louisiana's exhibition about Germany in the 1920s, The Cold Eye. Grossberg's yellow kettle is a central portrayal of the aesthetics that arose in 1920s German art with the rational and registering gaze, following the artistic direction, Neue Sachlichkeit - the new matter-of-factness or objectivity.

In the tumultuous and contradictory period after the First World War, a fascination with the American model of society arises in Germany. Streamlined work processes are implimented by German companies and leads to rapid mechanization and industrialization.

The rational - i.e. exposed by the German artistic movement, Neue Sachlichkeit - and an aestheticization of the industrial machines, becomes a new norm that strongly influences social and cultural life.

This new norm is clearly seen in Grossberg's minimalist compositions of industrial plants - as for example here, The Yellow Boiler .

Read more about the exhibition here.