Otto Dix by Eva Karcher. Crown Publishers 1987

Otto Dix by Eva Karcher. Crown Publishers 1987

 96pp, profusely illustr throughout in color and b+w

Otto Dix (1891-1969) is regarded as the leading representative of the German New Realism School of the 1920s. Derided in his day as the "scourge of the bourgeoisie, " and later misunderstood as a "social prosecutor on behalf of the exploited class, " Dix is one of the most brilliant and fascinating personalities in modern art. An artistic outsider, Dix shed a merciless light on contemporary manners through his realistic portrayals of war, prostitution, and life in the big city. He was a passionately keen observer who distrusted preconceived ideas. When his searching gaze alighted on the taboo topics of Eros and death, it produced the tense, brooding figures that haunt Dix's canvases. The human body, which constituted for Dix the most immediate expression of love and death, is the central focus of his work. Otto Dix explores the life and work of this scrupulous chronicler of his time through the extensive use of source materials and graphic description. It also contains an analytical study of his eminent position as a portraitist and as a member of the "internal emigration" during the Nazi period. Finally, a much-needed presentation and analysis of Dix's later works are given.