XX century gave a huge impetus to the development of art. This is the time of the emergence of many new directions and ideas. Only in the last century, finally, art appeared before us without limits and embellishment, was able to flaunt all the vices and problems of our lives. Famous German artists made a great contribution to world art. Otto Dix is one of them.
Otto Dix Biography
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix is an artist, one of the most talented, but undeservedly forgotten. His life was no less fascinating than art, so now more and more are written about him.
Otto was born in 1891 in Germany, where he lived his whole life. He was from a working class family, but was able to go to the Academy of Fine Arts, in which he was first imbued with expressionism. Avant-garde painting made a strong impression on the young artist, and he devoted his life to her.
When the First World War began, Dicks experienced a lot. Volunteer went to war Otto Dix. The artist was able to learn from it a truly valuable experience. Over the years, he created about 600 drawings that showed all the horrors of war. For this they criticized a young talented man, because he should depict heroes in the war, not people.
In his personal life, the artist was constant: he married quite early and raised five children. The family always supported the artist, even during periods when the authorities did not accept him.
Success and failure in work
In 1919 he became the founder of the Dresden Secession. In 1823, he earned the charge of pornography Otto Dix. The artist, fortunately, got off easily, since the head of the Academy himself stood up for him. Nevertheless, Dicks was recognized by the society of artists, was a professor at the Dresden Academy of Art and a member of the Prussian Academy in Berlin. He was one of the leading artists before the Nazis came to power.
In 1933, Otto was removed from the Dresden Academy, it was forbidden to exhibit his paintings. Nevertheless, the artist did not leave the country. During World War II, Dix was even called up to the front, although he was 53 at that time. However, he no longer wanted to fight and soon surrendered to the French.
After the war, Otto again began to exhibit paintings, but they did not fit in any direction of that time, although they received high marks. The artist lived until 1969 and even in recent years has not abandoned his craft.
Creative periods
Perhaps it is sometimes difficult to determine which direction a particular work of Dix belongs to. One thing can be said: expressionism and avant-garde were almost always present in his work. Sometimes elements of realism ("Self-portrait with a muse") or cubism ("Seller of matches") were mixed with them.
The direction of the new materiality, which in 20-30 years. XX century Expressionist artists were keen on Otto Dix. Colleagues and art lovers have always supported him. Although expressionist artists of the time wrote in the same genre, they didn’t do it with that expression, so Otto stood out among them.
After removal from work, the artist began to write on a religious theme. It was during this period that Dicks created one of his most outstanding paintings - "7 Deadly Sins."
After World War II, Otto Dix already abandoned abstractionism and social issues, but continued to adhere to expressionism, as in his early works. Basically now his paintings depicted landscapes and religious subjects. According to the artist, he was interested not so much in how he depicts the picture, but in what was painted on it and what meaning it carries. His expressionist paintings can actually be called very emotional, and they are breathtaking even among lay people.
The coming of glory
During his life, Otto Dix could not gain widespread fame among connoisseurs. On the contrary, the public did not like him, because he depicted life on his canvases exactly as it is. As the artist himself said, he strove to create a portrait of the era without any embellishment and partiality, for which, apparently, his contemporaries disliked him, because their sins were revealed. Nevertheless, among artists, he enjoyed recognition. After the Second World War, his paintings again aroused interest, but Otto received world love only posthumously. Only then they began to talk about him in wide circles, and his fame began to grow rapidly.
Famous paintings
The vast majority of Otto Dix’s paintings are war stories or cityscapes. One of the most famous works of the master is called "The Big City" (1827-1828). This triptych features poor streets full of prostitutes and disabled veterans. The central canvas is occupied by a picture of the rest of the upper world, who does not know and does not think about what is happening outside the walls of their shining hall.
The polyptych "War" (1929-1932) is widely known. It depicts a soldier, a military field, as well as the consequences that remain after the battle. This is one of the brightest works of new materiality, which meant some return to the old canons. Otto painted a polyptych not even on a canvas, but on a tree, as was done in the old days.
"Mother with a Child" (1921) perfectly shows the full power of the author's pen. A picture opens in front of the viewer, on which the mother and child stand. It seems that it should please, but no. Their figures were emaciated, their faces were withered, there was no life in their eyes, and smiles on their faces. Otto made a very gloomy wartime portrait.
"7 Deadly Sins" depicts a biblical plot, however, like all the paintings of the master, reworked for the needs of the time. So, in a small dwarf that sits on a decrepit old woman, you can easily recognize Hitler. This picture shows well the whole attitude of the artist to the new government in the country.
The meaning of Otto Dix's paintings
All the work was filled with deep meaning by the artist Otto Dix. Pictures painted by him convey a deep meaning, revealing social problems. So, for example, when he portrays a war, we see horror on the faces and debris of bodies on the earth. City paintings show the crimes and debauchery of former soldiers who have lost themselves. The streets are full of prostitutes, mother and child appear skinny from hunger, hopelessness reigns around. These cities were exactly such after the lost war, but no one wanted to pay attention to it, everyone tried to forget about what surrounds them. Otto sought to capture all these images. Perhaps they are not drawn very realistically, but it is precisely because of this that they cause stronger emotions in the audience.
The fate of the paintings
The fate of Otto Dix's paintings was sad after the Nazis came to power. So, in 1937, 260 paintings by an outstanding artist were put on fire as inconsistent with moral standards. However, even without taking into account the destroyed artist left behind a lot of works of art, because all his life he was engaged only in painting. The surviving paintings can now be seen in various museums throughout Germany. So, many are exhibited in the art gallery of Dresden, in the national gallery in Berlin and elsewhere.
Sometimes new paintings are found, as happened in 2011, when 4 masterpieces were discovered right away. Some works are in private collections today and can be purchased at auctions.
Contribution to Art
Otto Dix is an artist with a capital letter. His contribution to art and history is of great value, because it was not for nothing that he called himself a chronicler of his era. It is for talent that Otto Dix is now valued all over the world. No matter what genre he wrote and what he portrayed, this was all done by the hand of the master. Otto's paintings are able to amaze viewers today.