Otto Dix: The Art of Life
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Otto Dix: The Art of Life Details
Few painters are as strongly linked to the historical events and political catastrophes of twentieth-century Germany as Otto Dix (1891-1969). Born to a working-class family at the turn of the twentieth century, he hurled himself into the art world of the prewar era, and fought and drew on the front during World War I; after 1918, he gave that war perhaps the most honest face bestowed on it by an artist. During the Weimar Republic, Dix emerged as an enfant terrible, a dandy and an urban sophisticate, but he was also a respected professor and pedagogue, until he was driven from his position by the Nazis a few months after they came to power. Ostracized and threatened under the Nazi regime, Dix retreated to Lake Constance, where he began painting in the broader brushstokes that characterize his final phase. Published in Hatje Cantz's new Art to Read series, Philipp Gutbrod's expertly written biography examines an eventful life and a multifaceted oeuvre.
Reviews
A very interesting book on the man and his family. Many questions answered on who he was and what was his life. It also covers the different phases, movements and schools of art he belonged to. It makes sense of who he was and what emerges is a controversial man, a complex artists who left us with a body of work which is significant for the XXth century. Very interesting read for anyone who wants to know more about Dix.