While we have not made a study of the artist, Otto Dix; Weimar society; or specific German Expressionists, we know German Expressionism well enough to see its characteristics in this flea market item seen this summer in Pennsylvania.

Signed Dix (in the bottom right corner), the water color and ink on brown paper is wonderfully nasty enough to be of that ilk. Otto Dix was a German artist known for his realistic depictions of all matter of the Weimar society.

Among the most noted artists of German Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit, Otto Dix [Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix] (1891-1969, German) was a painter and print-maker, famous for his rather ruthless depictions of Weimar society and his disapproval of war. Born and raised in Gera (then Untemhaus), Dix attended the Kunstgewerbeschule (Academy of Applied Arts) in Dresden in 1910. While eventually anti-war, he volunteered for the German Army in 1915 and was not discharged until 1918 due to a neck injury. His memories of WWI played out in his work as an artist.

While Dix returned to Gera for a short time in 1918, he would again move to Dresden to study at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste.  There he founded the Dresden Secession in 1919.  It was here that his tie to German Expressionism took hold. During this time he participated in the German Expressionists exhibitions in Darmstadt.  By 1924, he had removed to Berlin, where he joined the Berlin Secession.  His style was evolving more and more into realism.  While Dix would go on to become one of the most successful German artists of his day, it was most likely during this period–the period between Dresden and Berlin–that he would have painted the picture shown as the feature of this article.  We know not if this picture is truly a Dix, but we certainly see the merit in the theory.

Always, almost always, its a flea market…in Pennsylvania…

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