Otto Dix Hommage à Martha

Otto Dix
Between 1921 and 1933 Otto Dix (1891-1969) created many portraits of his lover and later wife, Martha. Representative paintings, watercolors, drawings, and humorous sketches show Martha Dix in various roles: as a sophisticated, emancipated woman; as lover, muse, and intellectual companion; as mother and center point of the family. The painter's different attitudes toward his model, which range from admiration to intimacy to increasing distance, are transposed into a multiplicity of different portraits. The titles of the works, from emotionally charged to matter-of-fact descriptions, underscore this impression. Martha's portraits show more than just the art of Otto Dix in its many facets. They also reflect the urban flair, traditional and new gender roles, fashion, music, dance, and the desire for freedom in both art and life in the 1920s. The book and exhibition have been produced in close cooperation with the Otto Dix Foundation, Vaduz, which was founded in 1983 by Martha Dix. The author: Karin Schick (*1968) studied art history, philosophy, and German literature in Tübingen and Boston; her doctoral thesis dealt with the reception of Paul Cézanne in the USA. She has published works on classical modern and contemporary art. Since 2002, Schick has been deputy director of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, which has the largest collection of works by Otto Dix of any museum in the world. Exhibition schedule: Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, September 3-November 27, 2005