Otto Dix

Galerie Flechtheim, Berlin
Josef von Sternberg, California (acquired from the above by 1931)
Acquired from the estate of the above by the present owner

Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Museum, From the Collection of Josef von Sternberg, 1931, no. 5 (titled Family)
Hamburg, Bucerius Kunst Forum, 'Geisterbahn und Glanzrevue', Otto Dix: Aquarelle und Gouachen, 2007, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Archiv für bildende Künste im Germanischen Nationalmuseum I, Nürnberg, no. C382
Suse Pfäffle, Otto Dix - Werkverzeichnis der Aquarelle und Gouachen, Stuttgart, 1991, no. A1922/161, catalogued p. 171

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount in the top two corners, floating in the mount. There are artist's pinholes to all four corners. There is a 1 cm. repaired tear with two 2.5 cm. associated flattened creases and several minor repaired tears with three associated tiny spots of retouching to the upper right edge. There is a further minor nick to the center of the lower edge. All pinholes and tears are supported on the reverse with Japan paper. There are some minor areas of paper skinning towards the upper left and right corners and a further supported area towards the centre of the upper edge on the reverse, all due to previous mounting. There are a number of flattened creases running horizontally across the sheet. Apart from some minor spots of foxing, mainly to the upper third of the sheet, and an area of light staining to the lower right quadrant, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although the green and yellow tones are more vibrant and the paper tone is slightly warmer in the original.
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Executed in 1922, this vibrant watercolour depicts a family taking their Sunday stroll. The overall scene presents, on first impression, an idyllic vision of the traditional family unit. Their stroll, however, takes place in an industrial landscape with neatly marked pathways. The figures' stilted postures betray Dix's critique of the Bourgeoisie, exposing the lack of sincerity in affected social mores. By 1922 the German economy was beginning to fail as the Reichsmark fell dramatically against the dollar. Thus the seemingly ideal image of domestic comfort presented by the present work was spiralling out of reach for the average German citizen.

The present work is a study for the oil painting Sonntagsspaziergang (fig. 1), also from 1922, in which the faces of the man and woman are deeply lined and the children stare vacantly ahead. Dix revels in a detailed rendering of the man's weathered appearance. The German flag erected on the mountain and emblazoned on the boy's cap symbolises the family's conformity to the ideals of a patriarchal state. Famed for his realistic and often grotesque portrayals of war, prostitution and the more ruthless aspects of human nature, few aspects of the socio-political climate of the times escaped Dix's scrutiny.

comp: 258L10005
Otto Dix, Sonntagsspaziergang, 1922, oil on canvas, Private Collection