75 Jahre Rio Reiser. Ausstellung Ecce Homo – Mein Name ist Mensch

“In 1923, artist George Grosz chose “Ecce Homo” (Latin for “Behold the Man”) as the title for a portfolio of 100 caricatures intended to expose the social and moral bankruptcy of Weimar society: the capitalist war profiteer, the lecherous philistine, the emaciated prostitute, the corrupt official… The title alludes to the biblical phrase with which the Roman governor Pontius Pilate presented the scourged Jesus to the people before his crucifixion. Over the centuries, “Ecce Homo” became an icon of Christian passion and salvation history in art. Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Caravaggio, and countless other artists always translated the motif into images in the context of suffering, guilt, and divine revelation. George Grosz radically breaks with this Christian tradition and uses the title ironically for a sarcastic accusation: Look what has become of humanity! In 1971, some 50 years later, the young German rock band Ton Steine Scherben released the song “Mein Name ist Mensch” (My Name is Human), written by Rio Reiser, on their first LP. …” (translated with the free version of www.deepl.com/translator)