Otto Dix, Storm Troops Advance under Gas Attack (1924)

Otto Dix (1891-1969) volunteered as a machine-gunner during World War I and, after the war, became a founding member of the Dada/Expressionist Dresden Secession Group 1919 [Dresdner Sezession Gruppe 1919]. The numerous sketches and drawings that he made during the war were the basis of his gruesome scenes of war and disfigurement. This engraving is taken from a portfolio entitled “War” (1924), which was shown throughout Germany under the sponsorship of the pacifist organization “Nie Wieder Krieg!” [No More War]. Dix was appointed professor of art at the Dresden Academy in 1926 and became a member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts [Preußische Akadamie der Künste] in 1931. After the Nazi takeover in 1933, his works were confiscated from German museums and banned on the grounds that they were “likely to adversely affect the military will of the German people.”

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Publisher: Karl Nierendorf, Berlin. Printer: Otto Felsing, Berlin
© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Kupferstichkabinett, SMB / Jörg P. Anders