Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to Feature A Survey of Otto Dix

Written by Catherine Guex Sunday, 10 July 2011 20:31

Montreal, Que. - A German artist haunted by his horrific experiences as a soldier during World War I and by the need to expose the truth at the cost of shocking viewers, Otto Dix (1891‐1969) was a key figure in the artistic movement known as the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). An unflinching witness to his era—the society between the two world wars gripped by profound unease and pessimism—he turned his uncompromising gaze on his contemporaries, from the battlefields to the streets, brothels and salons during the Weimar Republic until the rise of the Third Reich. On view 24 September through 2 January, 2011.

Considered a "degenerate" artist by the Nazi regime for his cynical depictions of his contemporaries, he then abandoned his stark representations of the Weimar Republic for a more allegorical, less acerbic style of painting. A keen observer of the world, which he viewed as "terrifying and beautiful," Dix continues to disturb and fascinate us. The first exhibition of this scope devoted to Dix in North America will bring together some forty paintings—including the superb Portrait of the Lawyer Hugo Simons from the Museum’s collection, which was the object of much debate in the 1990s in Montreal—and about 100 graphic works which include some of the most remarkable pieces from his production.

The presentation suits Dix as well, in the first solo museum show of his work in North America. Dix famously said that he had to experience war first-hand in order to depict it. If the added scents and sounds alone do not quite bring viewers to the front-lines, or  the collapsed geometry of the Federico de Vera-designed entryway-with its walls angling inward, bunker-like before opening into what exhibition organizer Olaf Peters calls "the war room"—they make the experience of viewing Dix's war portfolio that much richer, and unshakeable.

The exhibition is organized by the Neue Galerie New York and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

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