Otto Dix

Galleria del Levante, Rome (circa 1966)
Private Collection, Rome
Private Collection, Cologne (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Berlin, Deutsche Akademie der Kunst & Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Otto Dix, Gemälde und Graphik von 1912-1957, 1957, no. 31
Munich, Galleria del Levante & Rome, Galleria del Levante, Aspetti della Nuova Oggettività, 1968, no. 5, illustrated in the catalogue
Milan, Comune di Milano Ripatriazione iniziative culturali, Il Realismo in Germania, 1971, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne & Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin, Les Réalismes, 1981, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (with incorrect medium)
Milan, Compagnia del disegno, Nuova oggettività - Neue Sachlichkeit, 2005, detail illustrated in colour on the cover; illustrated in colour p. 35

Otto Conzelman, Otto Dix, Hannover, 1959, mentioned p. 46
Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix, Leben und Werk, Dresden, 1960, illustrated pl. 87
Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix, Leben und Werk, Dresden & Vienna, 1967, illustrated pl. 118
Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix, Leben und Werk, Dresden, 1972, illustrated pl. 118
Storia della Pittura I Maestri del Colore, no. 27b, illustrated in colour no. 31
Fünfzig Jahre Galerie Nierendorf, 1920-1970: Rückblick, Dokumentation, Jubiläumsausstellung (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin, 1970, illustrated p. 288
Fritz Löffler, Otto Dix 1891-1969, Œuvre der Gemälde, Recklinghausen, 1981, no. 1931/3, illustrated

The panel is sound. Apart from some scattered, small retouchings on the cheeks and on the left thigh, and some further tiny areas of retouching to the right forearm and left breast, all visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although there is slightly less red in in the flesh tones of the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Sitzender Akt mit blondem Haar, painted in 1931, is an extraordinary example of Otto Dix's ability to create some of the most intense and electrifying images of the female figure in 20th century art. As the leading light of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement, Dix pioneered the post-war shift towards realism, even to the extremes of 'verism', with which he sought to exaggerate reality to better represent the truth underlying its facade. The intensity of his gaze distils all that is utterly unique within his subject and is depicted with awe-inspiring clarity on the canvas. Will Wolfradt writes: 'Otto Dix is an elementary event in art: an irresistible bursting forth of primordial, starved-out reality instincts - the barbaric, furious and merry energies of an autodidact leaping past the normal realm of civilization and the studio - a rapid conquest of the situation by virtue of the compelling power of primitive, uninhibited genius' (W. Wolfradt in Otto Dix (exhibition catalogue), Neue Galerie, New York, 2010, p. 113).

Dix and his contemporaries set about creating a mode of representation that stripped their paintings of any unnecessary, superficial traces. This enabled them to more exactly portray the realities and human geography of their era: the so-called 'golden twenties' (fig. 1). From this intention these painters, such as Christian Schad (fig. 2), Rudolf Schlichter and George Grosz, produced searingly expressive indictments of their age. Wieland Schmied suggests: 'Neue Sachlichkeit was the period which unites the two essential characteristics of Dix's work, his ability to translate a comprehensive and unsparing observation of reality into large-scale forms executed with old-masterly incisiveness, and his passionate involvement with everything that is seen. [...] Dix was the Expressionist among the Veristic painters of the Neue Sachlichkeit, and the more he sought to control the impulse and discipline himself, the more intensely this can be felt' (W. Schmied, in Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the Twenties (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1979, p. 26).

Of particular importance to Dix and his fellow Neue Sachlichkeit artists was the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. From the earliest years of the twentieth-century translations of Nietzsche's texts were made available to artists throughout Europe, and most of the major cultural figures of the modern era were influenced by his philosophy including Picasso, Apollinaire and Severini as well as Munch, Klee, Beckmann and the Brücke painters. Dix's admiration for Nietzsche's ideology can be found in works produced throughout his career. For Sarah O'Brien Twohig, Dix: 'focuses on the moral justification of truthfulness in art [...]. Hence Dix's use of disturbing or offensive subject matter, his distortion at times bordering on the grotesque, and his often harsh, strident colours must be seen as a Nietzschean-inspired aesthetic strategy, intended to force the viewer to confront issues and feelings in a critical, detached manner' (S. O'Brien Twohig in Otto Dix 1891-1969 (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1992, p. 44).

In October 1926 Otto Dix accepted a professorial post at the Dresden Academy, marking his return to the city in which he first trained as an artist. Along with his professional security this period was marked by other important events. He and his wife Martha had two children Ursus and Jan, furthermore his artistic practise was bearing fruit; in 1928 he was asked to exhibit at the Venice Biennale and at the International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York. The relative comforts afforded by these developments allowed Dix to concentrate upon his art, in particular the meticulous approach of preparing his painting in the manner of the Old Masters he idolised (fig. 4). As Brigitte Reinhardt explains: 'Dix took a strong interest in old art, especially in that of the Middle Ages and that of the Renaissance. In addition to the subject matter, he is fascinated by the technique of the Old Masters, by the glaze painting to be more exact, which he studied as a student' (B. Reinhardt, in Otto Dix, Inventory Catalogue of the Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 1989, p. 38). Dix even appropriated the manner of monograming his paintings from his forebears, such as in the present work. The emblematic quality of the initials firmly places him within the Northern European artistic canon.

Sitzender Akt mit blondem Haar is a remarkable testament to Dix's virtuosic technical skill. By applying the paint in many thinly glazed layers on top of white primed support he is capable of infusing the surface of his work with a glowing intensity, especially in the iridescence of the sitter's skin and her gold-spun hair, that had not even been so successfully achieved by his artistic predecessors Dürer, Baldung Grien and Cranach (fig. 5). This meticulous approach lends an appearance of great textural depth and emotional profundity to his paintings. The background he situates the nude in is that of the artist's studio, theatrical and deliberately unspecific to the period. The exquisitely rendered chair, with the minutely observed wickerwork is a painterly conceit which reveals the exceptional virtuosity of Dix's techinique. Dix's images of this nature are aesthetically unconventional, precisely because of his aim to portray the normally undisclosed realities of the world. As Wieland Schmied writes: 'His concern is with the individual; it is only in the unique and the individual that he finds the universal. When he paints nudes, instead of an anonymous idealised type he shows particular women in all the reality of their flesh' (W. Schmied, in ibid., 1979, p. 28).

Fig. 1, Otto Dix, An die Schönheit, 1922, oil on canvas, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal

Fig. 2, Christian Schad, Selbstporträt mit Modell, 1927, oil on panel, Tate Gallery, London, on loan from a Private Collection

Fig. 3, Otto Dix in his studio, 1927. Photograph by Bruno Schuch

Fig. 4, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Venus, 1532, oil and tempera on panel, Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Fig. 5, Otto Dix, Sitzender rothaariger Akt mit Strümpfen vor rosa Tuch, 1930, mixed media on panel, Neue Galerie, New York