Otto Dix’s sadistic circus

The exhibit of paintings by the prominent German artist Otto Dix was organized by the Goethe Institute. It consists of works from the 1920s, including etchings from his Der Krieg (War) series and the “critical” prints dating to the Weimar Republic. In fact, all these works are critical because his military graphics portray the ugliest and most horrible features of the First World War, whereas his peacetime paintings are incomparably more ironical — even bilious.

Dix’s prints are as famous as his paintings. That was the imperative of the epoch, so to speak: the horrors experienced by Germany and the rest of Europe in 1914-18 could not have been better portrayed than in the uncompromising black-and-white engraving and etching technique that was used by the famous German expressionists of the 1920s. Their unmatched, alarming, and painfully expressive graphic images are one of the summits of modern art. However, it is difficult to identify Dix as a full- fledged expressionist; he is too straightforward and his style is noticeably influenced by other trends, including Cubism, Futurism, and Dadaism, as evidenced by the works now on display at the National Art Museum in Kyiv. Whereas some of his works are brimming with straight and broken lines — as befits the expressionist style — others verge on absurd Dadaist caricatures, while some of his works are realistically balanced.

Dix’s work has a particular feature: the commonality of mood. His drawings became famous for the horror that permeates his Der Krieg series (Wounded Soldier, 1916, Bapaume; Wounded Soldier Running, (summer battle in 1916); Meeting a Madman at Night; Skull). These etchings became a kind of symbol of the horrors of war. Thanks to them, we can say that the First World War exists the way we know it precisely because it was portrayed by Dix.

As for the prints that he did in peacetime, they mostly remind one of sketches from some endless circus show, one that features sinners of both sexes, cripples, and monsters, which is practically as pitiless as military actions. Here one finds much more of Dix’s dark humor, although in the Der Krieg series there are glimpses of the artist’s nervous twitching smile that verges on insanity. In view of this, the presence of the Dream of a Sadist I, in which a happy man is almost juggling with parts carved out of a woman’s body, appears meaningful. Here one can sense the point of coincidence between both “peacetime” and “wartime” hallucinations. The main thing about Dix is the transformation of a human body when it is exposed to forces that are incompatible with normal existence. Man is not likely to change anything here and remain unharmed and of sound mind. But there is a chance for survival: one has to step into the arena and pull off a horribly funny stunt before an audience of millions of maimed faces.