Die Neue Sachlichkeit Expressionist Group
In 1925, he participated in the Die Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) exhibition at the Mannheim museum - which also included works by modern artists such as George Grosz, Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Karl Hubbuch, Rudolf Schlichter, Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Georg Scholz and others - and began organizing a series of collective exhibitions in major German cities. Throughout this period, Dix's work was highly critical of contemporary German society, leading him to highlight the bleaker aspects of urban life, such as prostitution: see Pimp and Prostitutes (1922, Private Collection). At the same time he was an exceptionally incisive portraitist, using intense line, detail and acid colour to create powerful portraits and engravings of his friends. An excellent example is Portrait of Sylvia von Harden (1926, Pompidou Centre, Paris).
At the end of 1926, Dix was appointed a teacher at the Dresden Academy, but he continued his bitter attacks on the decadence and corruption of the Weimar Republic, as exemplified by his triptych Metropolis (1928), a scornful attack on the depraved revelry of the time.
For more about Dix's contribution to the evolution of early expressionism, see: History of Expressionist Painting (c.1880-1930).
Degenerate Art
In 1933, following the establishment of the Nazi regime, he was dismissed from his teaching post, to which his response was The Seven Deadly Sins (1933, State Gallery, Stuttgart) a pictorial summary of the vices on show in the new Germany. As Nazi control tightened, Dix was banned from exhibiting his works in public and - like Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Paul Klee (1879–1940), Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), Oskar Kokoschka (1885-1980), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - was labelled a "degenerate artist". His paintings were exhibited in the state-sponsored Munich 1937 "Entartete Kunst" exhibition of degenerate art, and later burned. The artist was also compelled to join the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Kuenste), a subdivision of Goebbels' Cultural Ministry (Reichskulturkammer), and required to confine himself to landscapes, but he continued his allegorical paintings criticising Nazi ideals.
World War II and Aftermath
In 1939, Dix was arrested by the Nazis on a charge of conspiracy to assassinate Hitler but was later released. Towards the end of the war he was conscripted into the Volkssturm militia, captured by the French and released in early 1946. After 1946 he held Professorships at Dresden and Dusseldorf, and received many honours from both West and East Germany. He also continued painting for many years, but never exceeded the impact or originality of his pre-war paintings, especially those of the 1920s.
Collections
Regarded as one of the great 20th century painters, and an influential figure within the expressionist movement in Germany, works by Otto Dix hang in many of Europe's best art museums, including: the Kunstmuseum Basle, the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, the National Museum of Modern Art, Pompidou Centre Paris, and others.