Otto Dix

German painter and graphic artist Otto Dix (1891-1969) became best known for his work in the 1920s as the leading exponent of Die Neue Sachlichkeit (The New Objectivity). His works of social criticism were called "degenerate" by the Nazis.

Otto Dix was born December 2, 1891, in Untermhaus (Thuringia) of working class parents with arts and crafts inclinations. While attending the Volksschule from 1899 to 1905 he showed talent enough to be apprenticed to a decorative painter in nearby Gera. Dix encountered modern art in his travels and in Dresden, where he studied at the School of Decorative Art from 1909 to 1914. Influence by the early German artists Dürer and Cranach was soon succeeded by that of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. By 1912 Dix had made contact with the Expressionists, experience of which provided the footing for his mature art.

It was while serving in the army from 1915 to 1918 that Dix first exhibited his famous war drawings (1916), so prophetic, both in style and in content, of his later work. Dix returned to Dresden in 1919 and worked at the Dresden Academy until 1922, during which time he became loosely associated with the Berlin Dadaists, who exhibited his work in the "scandalous" 1920 International Dada Fair. During these same years he was also a member of the politically oriented Novembergruppe and Gruppe 1919 of the Dresden Sezession. Between 1922 and 1925, years spent at the Düsseldorf Academy, Dix published his famous etching cycle, Der Krieg. The work was executed in a veristic style, already apparent in his work from 1920.

Even by this time Dix had become well known for his bitter socio-political criticism. The uncompromising nature of his vision and his almost forced attention to detail were part of a general reaction against abstraction following World War I. His work, along with that of others, was labeled Die Neue Sachlichkeit by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, director of the Mannheim Kunsthalle, on the occasion of an exhibition there. Art historian Paul Ferdinand Schmidt had coined the same name for the same tendencies at precisely the same time. His reputation grown, Dix was given his first retrospective exhibition at the Galerie Nierendorf in 1926 and served as professor at the Dresden Academy of Art from 1927 to 1933.

Although respected and shown widely during this period, he was declared "degenerate" by the Nazis in 1933 and was forbidden to teach. The following year he was also forbidden to exhibit. These were tense years, largely because Dix elected to stay in Germany. He moved frequently until settling in Hemmenhofen in 1936. The following year eight of his works were included in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich, and in 1938 260 of Dix's works were confiscated and either destroyed or sold. In 1939 Dix was arrested by the Gestapo in Dresden; in 1945 he served in the Volkssturm, during which time he was taken prisoner by the Allies at Colmar.

From 1946, following his return to Hemmenhofen, Dix exhibited widely, and starting in 1948 he concentrated much of his energy on lithography. His style softened somewhat and his content became more mystical and religious in its orientation. During his late years Dix enjoyed a number of prestigious teaching posts. Suffering poor health the last few years of his life, Dix died of a stroke, at the age of 77, on July 25, 1969.

Further Reading

Although much of the Dix literature is written in German, English language studies have appeared. Linda F. McGreevy, The Lifeand Works of Otto Dix (1981) discusses the artist's entire career, while Brigid S. Barton, Otto Dix and Die Neue Sachlichkeit (1981) concentrates on the years from 1918 to 1925. Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix, Leben und Werk (1978) and Florian Karsch, Otto Dix, Das graphische Werk, 1913-1960 (1971) both remain standard works on the artist. Dix's own writing was largely confined to catalog introductions of exhibited work and introductions to his published portfolios.

Additional Sources

Otto Dix, life and work, New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. □

Dix, Otto (1891–1969). German painter and printmaker, born at Untermhaus in Thuringia. He was apprenticed to a local painter-decorator, 1905–9, then studied at the Dresden School of Arts and Crafts, 1910–14. At this time he was influenced by the Expressionist group Die Brücke, which had been founded in Dresden in 1905, and by an exhibition of van Gogh's work held there in 1913. During the First World War he served in the German army, witnessing the full horror of trench warfare, then took up his studies again at the Academy in Düsseldorf, 1919–22. In the 1920s he was, with George Grosz, the outstanding artist of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, employing a detailed technique that showed his admiration for the masters of the German Renaissance. His work of this time conveyed disgust at the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society with unerring psychological insight and devastating emotional effect. The Match Seller (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 1920), for example, is a pitiless depiction of indifference to suffering, showing passers-by ignoring a blind and limbless ex-soldier begging in the street, and Dix's fifty etchings entitled The War (1924) have been described by George Heard Hamilton as ‘perhaps the most powerful as well as the most unpleasant anti-war statements in modern art'. Another favourite theme was prostitution, and he also painted brilliantly incisive portraits, such as that of the journalist Sylvia von Harden (Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1926), in which ‘he condemned the social and spiritual values of an era, as well as of a way of life, by a merciless analysis of a particular person’ ( Hamilton).

In 1925 Dix moved to Berlin, then in 1927 he was appointed a professor at the Dresden Academy. Although he had no strong political views, his anti-military stance drew the wrath of the Nazis and he was dismissed from his academic post in 1933. The following year he was forbidden to exhibit, and eight of his paintings were shown in the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition in 1937. They included The Trench (1923), a large triptych that had been his most controversial painting on account of its horrific depiction of war; it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1939. By this time Dix was living quietly in the country, at Hemmenhofen near Lake Constance (he moved there in 1936), painting traditional landscapes, but he still aroused suspicion; in 1939 he was arrested on a charge of complicity in a plot on Hitler's life, but he was soon released. He was conscripted into the Volkssturm (Home Guard) in 1945 and was a prisoner of war in France, 1945–6, after which he returned to Hemmenhofen. From 1949 he regularly visited Dresden. His post-war work—which was much more loosely handled and often inspired by religious mysticism—did not compare in originality or strength with his great achievements of the 1920s.

Dix made prints in a variety of techniques—woodcut, etching, drypoint, lithography—and has been described as ‘together with Beckmann … the dominant figure in the field of original printmaking in Germany after the First World War’ ( Frances Carey and Antony Griffiths, The Print in Germany 1880–1933, 1984). After the Second World War he worked mainly in lithography, and as with his late paintings, there was a sharp decline from the standard of his pre-war work.

Dix, Otto (b Untermhaus, Thuringia, 2 Dec. 1891; d Singen, 25 July 1969). German painter and printmaker (in woodcut, etching, drypoint, and lithography). In the 1920s he was, with George Grosz, the outstanding artist of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, his work conveying his disillusionment and disgust at the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society with complete psychological truth and devastating emotional effect. The Match Seller (1920, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), for example, is a pitiless depiction of indifference to suffering, showing passers-by ignoring a blind and limbless ex-soldier begging in the street, and Dix's 50 etchings entitled The War (1924) have been described by George Heard Hamilton (Painting and Sculpture in Europe: 1880–1940, 1967) as ‘perhaps the most powerful as well as the most unpleasant anti-war statements in modern art’. Another favourite theme was prostitution and he was a brilliantly incisive portraitist (Sylvia von Harden, 1926, Pompidou Centre, Paris).

In 1927 Dix was appointed a teacher at the Dresden Academy, but his anti-military stance angered the Nazis and he was dismissed from his post soon after they took power in 1933. The following year he was forbidden to exhibit, and eight of his paintings were shown in the infamous exhibition of degenerate art in 1937. They included The Trench (1923), a large triptych that had been his most controversial painting on account of its horrific depiction of war; it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1939. From 1936 Dix had lived quietly in the country near Lake Constance, where he painted traditional landscapes, yet he still aroused suspicion; in 1939 he was arrested on a charge of complicity in a plot on Hitler's life, but was soon released. He was conscripted into the Volkssturm (Home Guard) in 1945 and was a prisoner in France 1945–6; he then returned to Lake Constance. His post-war work—which was much more loosely handled and often inspired by religious mysticism—did not compare in originality or strength with his great achievements of the 1920s, but he remained a highly respected figure, receiving major awards from both East and West Germany.

Dix, Otto (1891–1969). German painter and printmaker. In the 1920s he was, with George Grosz, the outstanding artist of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, his work conveying his disillusionment and disgust at the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society with complete psychological truth and devastating emotional effect. The Match Seller (1920, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), for example, is a pitiless depiction of indifference to suffering, showing passers-by ignoring a blind and limbless ex-soldier begging in the street, and Dix's fifty etchings entitled The War (1924) have been described by George Heard Hamilton (Painting and Sculpture in Europe: 1880–1940, 1967) as ‘perhaps the most powerful as well as the most unpleasant anti-war statements in modern art’. Another favourite theme was prostitution and he was a brilliantly incisive portraitist (Sylvia von Harden, 1926, Pompidou Centre, Paris). In 1927 he was appointed a teacher at the Dresden Academy, but his anti-military stance angered the Nazi regime and in 1933 he was dismissed from his academic posts and his work was declared degenerate. From 1936 he lived quietly in the country near Lake Constance and painted traditional landscapes, yet he still aroused suspicion; in 1939 he was arrested on a charge of complicity in a plot on Hitler's life, but was soon released. He was Conscripted into the Volkssturm (Home Guard) in 1945 and was a prisoner in France 1945–6; he then returned to Lake Constance. His post-war work—which was much more loosely handled and often inspired by religious mysticism—did not compare in originality or strength with his great achievements of the 1920s, but he remained a highly respected figure, receiving major awards from both East and West Germany.

Otto Dix 1891–1969, German painter and draftsman. Dix fought in World War I and returned to Düsseldorf haunted by the horrors he had witnessed. In 1924 he published War, a series of 50 etchings, horrifying visions of war's victims executed with great clarity. Associated with the new objectivity movement in German expressionism , he depicted the sordid world of prostitutes and swindlers with a painful precision and intensity. His many arresting expressionist portraits (including many self-portraits) represent a cross-section of the world of the Weimar Republic. His work was condemned by the Nazis, who forced him from his professorship at the Dresden Academy of Art, drove him into internal exile in 1933, and included him in their 1937 exhibition of "degenerate" art. Accused of an attempt on Hitler's life in 1939, he was imprisoned in Dresden and later made a prisoner of war by the French. After the war he lived in West Germany.

Bibliography: See biographies by L. G. McGreevy (1981), F. Loffler (1982), E. Karcher (1988), and P. Gutbrod (2010); O. Peters, ed., Otto Dix (2010); I. F. Walther and E. Karcher, Dix (25) (2010).

Dix, Otto (1891–1969) German painter and engraver. He was a pitiless satirist of inhumanity, notably in a series of 50 etchings called The War (1924) and his portrayal of prostitutes. He attacked the corruption in Weimar Germany. The Nazis banned him from teaching (1933), and he was jailed for an alleged plot to kill Hitler (1939). After World War II, he concentrated on religious themes.