Watercolor and pencil. Signed and inscribed "275" lower right. Titled on the reverse. On wove paper. 47.8 x 37.5 cm. , the full sheet. [JS]. - Otto Dix's captivating Verism: the “Magd” - marked by life and yet with a strong, self-confident, and modern appeal. - Nothing escapes Otto Dix's forensic view of reality, be it suffering, helplessness, greed, or horror. - From his best creative period: a character portrait from the early 1920s in a haunting and unsparing manner. - For the first time offered on the international auction market (www.artprice.com). - Similar works are owned by important international museums like the Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. LITERATURE: Suse Pfäffle, Otto Dix. Werkverzeichnis der Aquarelle und Gouachen, Stuttgart 1991, no. A 1923/144 (illustrated in black and white on p.197).
(Selection) Otto Dix. An exhibition of drawings and watercolors, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, October-November 1978, no. 30. Works by German expressionists, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, July 1 - September 30, 1983, no. 4. Expressionists: Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings by 12 German expressionists, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, December 1984, cat. no. 13, p. 31 (illustrated). Otto Dix 1891-1969, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, August 23 - October 27, 1985, cat. no. 220, p. 306 (not illustrated). Otto Dix, Centro per le Arti visive e Museo d`Arte Contemporanea di Villa Groce, Genoa, July 3 - September 14, 1986, cat. no. 103 (illustrated on p. 147). Otto Dix, Schloß Martesch, Bolzano, November 5 - December 21, 1986, cat. no. 103, p.147 (illustrated). Otto Dix, Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, March 13 - April 15, 1987, cat. no. 103 (illustrated on p. 154). Otto Dix. Die Frühen Jahre, Erholungshaus der Bayer AG, Leverkusen, February 12 - March 26, 1989, Joseph Albers Museum, Bottrop, April 23 - June 3, 1989, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, January - March 1990. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle des deutschen Expressionismus, Städtische Galerie Bittigheim-Bissingen, July 7-September 9, 1990, no number (illustrated). Otto Dix. Die frühen Jahre, BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, February 15 - April 1, 1995 / Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, June 22 - September 3, 1995, cat. no. 53 (illustrated). Allemagne, les années noires, Fondation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol, Paris 2008, p. 174, p. 241 (illustrated) Decadence & Decay. Max Beckmann - Otto Dix - George Grosz - Galerie St. Etienne, New York, April 12 - June 24, 2011, no. 38. Mixed Media (I). About Portrait, Kicken Berlin, March 10 - April 24, 2015
Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin. Barney Weinger, New York. Serge Sabarsky, New York (before 1978 - after 1995). Galerie St. Etienne, New York. From a Swiss collection
Otto Dix left us an oeuvre characrerized by his unsparing view of humanity that continues to captivate and disturb the viewer to this day. Nothing escaped his relentless, almost forensic view of reality: neither suffering nor helplessness, not greed, nor the horrors of our human existence. It was the experience of the existential traumas that Dix had to live through in his early twenties in the First World War - piles of corpses, death all around him, and the acrid smell of fear and decay - that laid the foundations for his lifelong fascination with the subject of life and death. In retrospect, the artist described the war as a kind of gruesome awakening: “War is something so beastly: hunger, lice, mud, noises that drive you insane.[...] looking at the earlier pictures, I had the impression that there was one side of reality that had not yet been depicted: ugliness. “War was a hideous thing, but also something monumental. [...] You must have seen people in such a state of unleashed violence to understand human nature.” (Quoted from Otto Dix 1891-1969, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich 1986, p. 280.) Henceforth, Dix dedicated his work to ‘primeval themes of humanity.’ In his disturbing pictures of figures captured in an exaggerated critical realism, Dix confronts us with helpless human beings with a physicality marked by life. Otto Dix's portraits go far beyond all traditions of salon painting. They are not masterfully staged images of the high society. Instead, Dix makes ordinary people the protagonists of his revolutionary art with great power and courage. And so it is the financial hardships, the burden of work, the fear of illness and death, as well as the dark sides of human nature that Dix denounces with unsparing directness. "Die Hure (The Whore)", "Der Selbstmörder (The Suicide Victim)", "Die Alte Schauspielerin (The Old Actress)", "Die Straßendirne (The Streetwalker)" and "Die Magd (The Maid)" are the titles of these magnificent works from the 1920s in which Dix captured the defining features of the actors of contemporary society with a confident stroke in fascinating spontaneity and with unsparing accuracy. The facial features and stature of the “Magd” are coarse and rough, resulting from a lifetime of hard physical labor. Her cheeks and nose are bright red; her massive breasts droop down on her belly. Nevertheless, Dix's “Magd” is not ugly; she appears solid and brave, and her eyes are focused and directed into the distance with an intense, self-confident gaze. In this work, which Dix executed with playful ease and luminous, saturated colors, we encounter a femininity that has broken free from the male gaze and that, due to its surprising modernity, continues to captivate us today. [JS]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Lot Details
Watercolor and pencil. Signed and inscribed "275" lower right. Titled on the reverse. On wove paper. 47.8 x 37.5 cm. , the full sheet. [JS]. - Otto Dix's captivating Verism: the “Magd” - marked by life and yet with a strong, self-confident, and modern appeal. - Nothing escapes Otto Dix's forensic view of reality, be it suffering, helplessness, greed, or horror. - From his best creative period: a character portrait from the early 1920s in a haunting and unsparing manner. - For the first time offered on the international auction market (www.artprice.com). - Similar works are owned by important international museums like the Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. LITERATURE: Suse Pfäffle, Otto Dix. Werkverzeichnis der Aquarelle und Gouachen, Stuttgart 1991, no. A 1923/144 (illustrated in black and white on p.197).
(Selection) Otto Dix. An exhibition of drawings and watercolors, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, October-November 1978, no. 30. Works by German expressionists, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, July 1 - September 30, 1983, no. 4. Expressionists: Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings by 12 German expressionists, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York, December 1984, cat. no. 13, p. 31 (illustrated). Otto Dix 1891-1969, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, August 23 - October 27, 1985, cat. no. 220, p. 306 (not illustrated). Otto Dix, Centro per le Arti visive e Museo d`Arte Contemporanea di Villa Groce, Genoa, July 3 - September 14, 1986, cat. no. 103 (illustrated on p. 147). Otto Dix, Schloß Martesch, Bolzano, November 5 - December 21, 1986, cat. no. 103, p.147 (illustrated). Otto Dix, Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, March 13 - April 15, 1987, cat. no. 103 (illustrated on p. 154). Otto Dix. Die Frühen Jahre, Erholungshaus der Bayer AG, Leverkusen, February 12 - March 26, 1989, Joseph Albers Museum, Bottrop, April 23 - June 3, 1989, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, January - March 1990. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle des deutschen Expressionismus, Städtische Galerie Bittigheim-Bissingen, July 7-September 9, 1990, no number (illustrated). Otto Dix. Die frühen Jahre, BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, February 15 - April 1, 1995 / Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, June 22 - September 3, 1995, cat. no. 53 (illustrated). Allemagne, les années noires, Fondation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol, Paris 2008, p. 174, p. 241 (illustrated) Decadence & Decay. Max Beckmann - Otto Dix - George Grosz - Galerie St. Etienne, New York, April 12 - June 24, 2011, no. 38. Mixed Media (I). About Portrait, Kicken Berlin, March 10 - April 24, 2015
Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin. Barney Weinger, New York. Serge Sabarsky, New York (before 1978 - after 1995). Galerie St. Etienne, New York. From a Swiss collection
Otto Dix left us an oeuvre characrerized by his unsparing view of humanity that continues to captivate and disturb the viewer to this day. Nothing escaped his relentless, almost forensic view of reality: neither suffering nor helplessness, not greed, nor the horrors of our human existence. It was the experience of the existential traumas that Dix had to live through in his early twenties in the First World War - piles of corpses, death all around him, and the acrid smell of fear and decay - that laid the foundations for his lifelong fascination with the subject of life and death. In retrospect, the artist described the war as a kind of gruesome awakening: “War is something so beastly: hunger, lice, mud, noises that drive you insane.[...] looking at the earlier pictures, I had the impression that there was one side of reality that had not yet been depicted: ugliness. “War was a hideous thing, but also something monumental. [...] You must have seen people in such a state of unleashed violence to understand human nature.” (Quoted from Otto Dix 1891-1969, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich 1986, p. 280.) Henceforth, Dix dedicated his work to ‘primeval themes of humanity.’ In his disturbing pictures of figures captured in an exaggerated critical realism, Dix confronts us with helpless human beings with a physicality marked by life. Otto Dix's portraits go far beyond all traditions of salon painting. They are not masterfully staged images of the high society. Instead, Dix makes ordinary people the protagonists of his revolutionary art with great power and courage. And so it is the financial hardships, the burden of work, the fear of illness and death, as well as the dark sides of human nature that Dix denounces with unsparing directness. "Die Hure (The Whore)", "Der Selbstmörder (The Suicide Victim)", "Die Alte Schauspielerin (The Old Actress)", "Die Straßendirne (The Streetwalker)" and "Die Magd (The Maid)" are the titles of these magnificent works from the 1920s in which Dix captured the defining features of the actors of contemporary society with a confident stroke in fascinating spontaneity and with unsparing accuracy. The facial features and stature of the “Magd” are coarse and rough, resulting from a lifetime of hard physical labor. Her cheeks and nose are bright red; her massive breasts droop down on her belly. Nevertheless, Dix's “Magd” is not ugly; she appears solid and brave, and her eyes are focused and directed into the distance with an intense, self-confident gaze. In this work, which Dix executed with playful ease and luminous, saturated colors, we encounter a femininity that has broken free from the male gaze and that, due to its surprising modernity, continues to captivate us today. [JS]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
