Dix and the Present (Exhibition cat. Deichtorhallen Hamburg)

The Deichtorhallen Hamburg is presenting a major exhibition in this book for fall 2023 on Otto Dix and his influence on art extending up to the present. The first part of the two-part exhibition presents Dix’ s supposedly non-political work from the Nazi era, in which the artistic effects of political censorship, conformity, opposition, and political iconography become evident. Until now, Otto Dix’ s work during the Nazi era has occupied a secondary position in the exhibition and research landscape. In order to cover Dix’ s landscapes, portraits, and Christian subjects in the context of his time, the book places the painter, his work, and his professional career in the artistic and political context of the Weimar Republic, Nazism, and the period just after the end of the war. The second part of the exhibition and the book focuses on the artistic reception of Dix in relation to subject matter, political iconography, style, technique, and genre. The show makes visible the changes in cultural and social conditions in the reception of Dix’ s oeuvre, and also shows the great fascination that his work has exerted for around 40 of the most well-known contemporary artists around the world.