Otto Dix (1891 – 1969)
At university last week I found myself standing in a hallway with an officiously tidy woman in an office-type suit, a classmate in a unit called Law for Managers within the MBA (Master of Business Administration). Along the walls of the hallway were fine art prints by noted Tasmanian printmakers such as Ray Arnold, Helen Wright and Barbie Kjar.
She very intensely walked from one to the other appreciating their collective work. The conversation I sparked up reminded me very quickly that having a partner who is a fine art printmaker opens a different world from the average person’s. Mainly through exposure. And actually knowing what an etching entails adds something to the understanding of the work on that wall, beyond the picture itself. We should all have an appreciation for good art whether or not we have the time or inclination to understand the processes. So in future I’ll try to expose you to some of these influences and perhaps a few of the people we touch in our daily lives.
Which brings us to Otto Dix (1891 – 1969) who created some incredible work through two World Wars and a charge of being involved in a plot against Hitler. His story in World War 1 saw him later produce a series of 50 etchings called War, published in 1924, which even today provide a resounding testament to the cruelty and barbarity of real war (as opposed to the glorified war of propaganda). Gas masks, decomposed bodies, suffering, filth. That is War. Death and death and death. He had won the Iron Cross, fought in the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front, then the Eastern Front, and then the German Spring Offensive on the Western Front. He had left the army as a Vice Sergeant Major. My point, this is war through the eyes of an unenthusiastic warrior. Not as anti-war propaganda but simply as a true depiction of war as it is in truth.
The image below is an intaglio etching, aquatint, drypoint by Otto Dix titled Stormtroopers advancing under gas attack.
So, for what it’s worth, an interesting artist by the name of Otto Dix had an interesting life creating great works of art mostly before I was ever born. I hope you appreciate his work, too. I should add that my exposure to Dix is through my partner Linden‘s MFA (Master of Fine Arts) work on trauma.
The MoMA has a selection of Otto Dix works in a five page series of thumbnails (page 2, page 3, page 4, and page 5).
