The Banned Art Of Otto Dix
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Psycho Mike
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The Banned Art Of Otto Dix
Otto Dix (1891-1969), the great German Expressionist, was famous for his unique and grotesque style. Although Hitler's Nazi regime destroyed many of Otto Dix's works, the majority of his paintings can still be seen in museums throughout Germany. http://www.mess.net/galleria/dix/
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Sewer King
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Hitler is painted as an evil gnome in Dix' The Seven Deadly Sins (1933). If many of his works were destroyed under the Nazi regime, I wonder if they survive only as photos.
Dix also served four years in the German Army, much of it in the front lines, but I haven't learned any details.
He and George Grosz are often considered together, not only for their grotesquerie and war themes, but because their works are so often about sex murders (Lustmord). One of Dix' self-portraits shows him as a knife-killer brandishing the parts of a dismembered woman. And there is a great deal more in this line.
Why does sex murder have such a place in parts of German art and consciousness? Dix, Grosz, Weill's Threepenny Opera, Peter Kurten the Dusseldorf murderer, and Fritz Lang's famous film M based on him. Then later came Julius Streicher's Der Sturmer.
I am not trying to pick on Germans, because to me violence sometimes takes on national styles whether individual or organized. This question could be rewritten for violence in any nation.
Dix also served four years in the German Army, much of it in the front lines, but I haven't learned any details.
He and George Grosz are often considered together, not only for their grotesquerie and war themes, but because their works are so often about sex murders (Lustmord). One of Dix' self-portraits shows him as a knife-killer brandishing the parts of a dismembered woman. And there is a great deal more in this line.
Why does sex murder have such a place in parts of German art and consciousness? Dix, Grosz, Weill's Threepenny Opera, Peter Kurten the Dusseldorf murderer, and Fritz Lang's famous film M based on him. Then later came Julius Streicher's Der Sturmer.
I am not trying to pick on Germans, because to me violence sometimes takes on national styles whether individual or organized. This question could be rewritten for violence in any nation.
Very impressive...evil blond gnome....I may add. No wonder these were not favourites of AH.Sewer King wrote:Hitler is painted as an evil gnome in Dix' The Seven Deadly Sins (1933). If many of his works were destroyed under the Nazi regime, I wonder if they survive only as photos.
What a prophecy !
JT
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Sewer King
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Actually, I just read why the Hitler gnome is blond. The square mustache had been added some time afterward as a deliberate reference to Hitler.Topspeed wrote:Very impressive...evil blond gnome....I may add. No wonder these were not favourites of AH. What a prophecy !
I don't remember if Dix was in the Entareten Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition, but I remember his painting of four War Cripples was decried as military sabotage.