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Title: Otto Dix and Weimar Media Culture

Otto Dix and Weimar Media Culture

Time, Fashion and Photography in Portrait Paintings of the Neue Sachlichkeit

by Anne Reimers (Author)
©2022 Monographs XVIII, 314 Pages
German Studies
Series: German Visual Culture, Volume 11

Summary

Otto Dix (1891–1969) was a leading figure of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement in painting in 1920s Germany. This groundbreaking study analyses for the first time in depth the relationship between Dix’s verist-realist portrait paintings and the rapidly expanding mass media culture of the Weimar era.
Focusing on a selection of portraits created in the first half of the 1920s, the book explores four specific aspects: the way in which Dix engaged with fashion and celebrity culture; how he responded to the challenge posed by photography; how he dealt with a situation where black-and-white reproductions were the most common medium through which diverse audiences encountered his work, and the ways in which Dix’s career development ran in parallel with the commentary on his artistic production in journalistic and specialist media publications. Temporality, medium-specificity and reproduction are identified as concerns that drove his aesthetic responses to a historically specific environment.
New archival material, letters and interviews by the artist, and a wide range of publications by art critics, cultural theorists and art historians of the Weimar era are drawn on to reveal new information about key paintings such as Self-Portrait with Nude Model (1923) and Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber (1925).

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • List of Illustrations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 Inscribing Temporality, Containing Fashion: Otto Dix’s Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber Recontextualised
  • Chapter 2 ‘Material Verism’: Medium-Specificity and Haptic Effects in Self-Portrait with Nude Model and Portrait Mrs Martha Dix
  • Chapter 3 Reproductive Optics: Otto Dix’s Portrait of the Poet Herbert Eulenberg and Painting in Reproduction
  • Chapter 4 Otto Dix with ‘Retrospective Flavour’: The Language of Temporality and the Temporality of Language in the Print Media
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • Series index

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Illustrations

Figure 1.Studio Alexander Binder, Anita Berber, die dämonische Tanzvirtuosin in einer Kunstpause (Anita Berber, the demonic dance virtuoso taking an artistic break). Photograph. In Elegante Welt, 9/1 (1920).

Figure 2.Otto Dix, Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber, 1925. Oil and tempera on plywood, 120.4 × 64.9 cm. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. © DACS, London. Photo: bpk / Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Figure 3.Waldemar Titzenthaler, Die Tänzerin Anita Berber in neuen Kleidern (The Dancer Anita Berber in New Clothes). Photograph. In Die Dame, 46/5 (1918).

Figure 4.Otto Dix, Lady with Mink and Veil, 1920. Oil and tempera on canvas mounted on cardboard, 73 × 54.6 cm. Steinhardt Collection, New York. © DACS, London. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Figure 5.Otto Dix, Portrait Mrs Martha Dix, 1923. Oil on canvas, 69 × 60.5 cm. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. © DACS, London. Photo: bpk / Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Figure 6.Hugo Erfurth, Muzli and Jim (Martha Koch and Otto Dix), 1922. Gelatin silver print, 15.8 × 22.3 cm.

Figure 7.Otto Dix, Untitled, 1921. Ink on paper. Otto Dix Stiftung, Vaduz. © DACS, London. Photo: Anne Reimers.

Figure 8.Otto Dix, Anita Berber, 1925. Pastel on paper. 34 × 25 cm. Private Collection, Potsdam. © DACS, London.

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Figure 9.Anonymous, Anita Berber, 1924. Photograph. In Neue Illustrierte Filmwoche, Berliner Ausgabe, 47. 21 November 1924.

Figure 10.Anita Berber in Varieté (dir. Ewald Andre Dupont), 1925. Film still. © Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. Photo: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

Figure 11.Otto Dix, The Widow, 1922, gouache, 44 × 28 cm, Roswitha Haftmann Modern Art, Zurich. © DACS, London.

Figure 12.Studio Alexander Binder, Lya de Putti, likely June 1925. Photograph. In: Herzog, Peter, and Romano Tozzi, Lya de Putti. Loving Life and Not Fearing Death (New York: Corvin, 1993).

Figure 13.Ein interessantes Doppelbildnis von O. Dix aus der ‘Juryfreien Kunstschau’ in Berlin (An Interesting Double-Portrait by O. Dix from the ‘Juryfreie Kunstschau’ in Berlin). Photograph. In Die Dame, 50/7 (1923).

Figure 14.Atelier d’Ora, Die Tänzerin Anita Berber (The Dancer Anita Berber). Photograph. In Die Dame, 50/7 (1923).

Figure 15.View into the Otto Dix exhibition at Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Berlin, 1926. In Otto Dix. Katalog der Gesamtausstellung 1926. Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf (Berlin: Kunstarchiv, 1926), 46. © DACS, London.

Figure 16.Otto Dix, Self-Portrait at the Easel, 1926. Oil on wood panel, 80 × 55 cm, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren. © DACS, London. Photo: Peter Hinschläger.

Figure 17.Otto Dix, Portrait of the Jeweller Karl Krall, 1923. Oil on canvas. 90.5 × 60.5 cm. Von-der-Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal. © DACS, London.

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Figure 18.Studio of M. I. Boris, Lya de Putti in The Prince of Tempters, 1926. Photograph on postcard.

Figure 19.Wieland Herzfelde with Otto Dix’s Swing Picture [or Movable Figure Picture] exhibited at the 1st International Dada fair in the bookshop of Dr Burchard in Berlin, 5 June 1920. © DACS, London. Photo: bpk / adoc-photos.

Figure 20.Leopold Zahn, ‘Georg Schrimpf’, Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 51 (1922/1923).

Figure 21.Otto Dix, Self-Portrait with Nude Model, 1923. Oil on canvas. 105 × 90 cm. Private Collection. © DACS, London. Photo: Courtesy Richard Nagy, London.

Figure 22.Otto Dix, Trench (Der Schützengraben), 1920. Oil on canvas. 280 × 280 cm. Formerly Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Confiscated 1937, presumed destroyed. © DACS, London.

Figure 23.Otto Dix, The Skat Players, 1920. Oil on canvas with collage. 110 × 87 cm. © DACS, London. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, 1995 erworben durch die Freunde der Nationalgalerie und das Land Berlin. Photo: Jörg P. Anders.

Figure 24.Reproduction of Otto Dix, Barricade, 1920. Presumed destroyed. Newspaper clipping, dated 1921 [DKA]. © DACS, London. Photo: Anne Reimers.

Figure 25.Hans Holbein the Younger, Self-Portrait, ca. 1540–1543. Chalk and pen on paper. 32 × 26 cm. Uffizi, Florence. Photo: bpk / Scala.

Figure 26.Fashion models. In Elegante Welt, 12/17 (1923).

Figure 27.Jan van Eyck, Triptych with Virgin and Child, Saint Catherine, and the Archangel Michael with the Donor, 1437. Oil on oak panel. Central panel, 33 × 27.5 cm. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo: bpk / Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

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Figure 28.Otto Dix, The Photographer Hugo Erfurth with a Lens, 1925. Oil and tempera on plywood. 75.1 × 60.6 cm. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. In Cicerone, 17 (1925). © DACS, London.

Figure 29.Herbert Ploberger, Self-Portrait with Opthalmological Models, 1928–1930. Oil on canvas. 50 × 40 cm. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich. © DACS, London. Photo: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich.

Figure 30.Coat made with ‘birds-eye’ cloth, Das Magazin, 8 (April 1925).

Figure 31.Franz Fiedler, Otto Dix, 1923. Gelatin silver print. 20.8 × 15.9 cm.

Figure 32.‘Herrenstoffe, die wir empfehlen!’, Elegante Welt, 16/17 (1927).

Figure 33.‘Alte Holzskulpturen sind wieder modern’ (‘Old wood sculptures are modern again’), Elegante Welt, 12/7 (1923).

Figure 34.Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of a Young Woman with Carnation, around 1538. Oil on wood panel. 37 × 30 cm. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv.

Figure 35.Lucia Moholy, Portrait, and Paramount Studios, Gloria Swanson, in László Moholy-Nagy, Painting – Photography – Film, trans. by Janet Seligman (London: Lund Humphries, 1969), 96–97. © DACS, London.

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Figure 36.Otto Dix, Still Life in the Studio, 1924. Oil and tempera on canvas. 146 × 100 cm. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. © DACS, London. Photo: bpk / Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Figure 37.Otto Dix, Portrait Mrs Martha Dix, 1926. Oil on wood panel. 115 × 75 cm. Museum Ludwig, Cologne. © DACS, London. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv.

Figure 38.Otto Dix, The Family of the Painter Adalbert Trillhaase (Die Familie des Malers Adalbert Trillhaase), 1923. Oil on canvas. 119 × 95 cm. © DACS, London. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Erworben durch die Freunde der Nationalgalerie. Photo: André van Linn.

Figure 39.Hugo Erfurth, Otto Dix in Front of the Unfinished Double-Portrait, 8 July 1922. Photograph on postcard. © DACS, London.

Figure 40.Reproduction of Otto Dix, Portrait of the Poet Herbert Eulenberg, 1925. Tempera on wood. 100 × 68 cm, in Hans Tietze, Lebendige Kunstwissenschaft. Zur Krise der Kunst und der Kunstgeschichte (Vienna: Krystall, 1925).

Figure 41.Otto Dix, Cartoon for the Portrait of the Poet Herbert Eulenberg, 1925. Charcoal on paper. 100 × 68 cm, Heinrich-Heine-Institut, Düsseldorf. © DACS. Photo: Heinrich-Heine-Institut, Düsseldorf/Gavril Blank.

Figure 42.Hugo Erfurth, The Poet Herbert Eulenberg, 1925. Photograph. In Das Leben, 4/8 (February 1927).

Figure 43.Reproduction of Karl von Appen, Landscape. In Das Kunstblatt, 11/6 (1927), frontispiece.

Figure 44.Reproduction of Karl Zuckschwert, In the Kitchen (In der Küche). In Das Kunstblatt, 11 (1927).

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Figure 45.Reproduction of Otto Dix, The Salon I, 1921. Oil on canvas. 86 × 121 cm. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. In Willi Wolfradt, Otto Dix, Junge Kunst, 41 (Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1924), frontispiece. © DACS, London.

Figure 46.Reproduction of Otto Dix, Death and Resurrection, 1922. Lost and presumed destroyed. In Das Kunstblatt, 6 (1922). © DACS, London.

Figure 47.Reproduction of Georg Scholz, We Germans Fear God and Nothing Else in the World, 1921. Lithograph. In Das Kunstblatt, 6 (1922).

Figure 48.Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Sunday Morning, 1922. Oil on canvas. 101 × 110 cm. Osthaus-Museum, Hagen. © Osthaus Museum Hagen. Photo: Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf.

Figure 49.Reproduction of Otto Dix, Self-Portrait with Nude Model, 1923. Oil on canvas. 105 × 90 cm. Private Collection. In Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix. Leben und Werk, 5th edn (Wiesbaden: Ebeling, 1982), plate 57. © DACS, London.

Figure 50.Reproduction of Otto Dix, Self-Portrait with Nude Model, 1923. Oil on canvas. 105 × 90 cm. Private Collection. In Otto Dix, ed. by Olaf Peters (New York: Prestel, 2011), 200. © DACS, London.

Figure 51.Otto Dix, Altar for Cavaliers [closed and opened], 1920. Oil and collage. Private collection. © DACS, London.

Figure 52.Reproduction of Benjamin Godron, Portrait of the Dancer Eva Boy. Lost. In Das Kunstblatt, 10 (1926). © DACS, London.

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Figure 53.Reproduction of Benjamin Godron, Portrait of the Dancer Eva Boy. Lost. In Jugend, 33/2 (1928), cover. © DACS, London.

Figure 54.Reproduction of Christian Schad, Baroness Ludwig Hatvany, 1927. Oil painting. Lost. In Scherl’s Magazin, 6/11 (1930). © Christian Schad Stiftung Aschaffenburg/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn and DACS, London 2021.

Figure 55.Reproduction of Christian Schad, Portrait Baroness H., 1927. Oil painting. Lost. In Jugend, 32/30 (1927), cover. © Christian Schad Stiftung Aschaffenburg/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn and DACS, London 2021.

Figure 56.Reproduction of Otto Dix, The Poet Herbert Eulenberg, 1925. Tempera on wood. 100 × 68 cm. In UHU (1928). © DACS, London.

Figure 57.Reproduction of Otto Dix, The Poet Herbert Eulenberg, 1925. Tempera on wood. 100 × 68 cm. In Die Kunst für Alle, 41 (1926/1927). © DACS, London.

Details

Pages
XVIII, 314
Publication Year
2022
ISBN (PDF)
9781800791244
ISBN (ePUB)
9781800791251
ISBN (MOBI)
9781800791268
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781800791237
DOI
10.3726/b17774
Language
English
Publication date
2022 (February)
Keywords
Otto Dix Portrait painting Weimar visual culture Otto Dix and Weimar Media Culture Anne Reimers
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2022. XVIII, 314 pp., 37 b/w ill., 28 colour ill.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Anne Reimers (Author)

Anne Reimers studied art history, philosophy and Italian in Bonn and Rome and holds a PhD in History of Art from University College London (UCL). She is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (UAL) and at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). Since 2006, she has written on the global art market for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Title: Otto Dix and Weimar Media Culture