Otto Dix's murals
Otto Dix (1891–1969) is widely regarded as one of Germany's most important artists. He is still regarded today as a New Objectivity painter, with works that have been interpreted in different, even contradictory, ways in the history of German art.
However, the fact that his oeuvre also includes murals and late Expressionist works is still not widely known. He first created a three-part mural for the new building of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden in 1932 and again in 1938 for the garden pavilion of Fritz Nischer's house in Chemnitz. Both were destroyed during the Third Reich. Otto Dix accepted commissions for panel paintings and stained glass windows in later years as well. The only surviving murals by Otto Dix today are located in the town hall in Singen (1960).
Technique and execution of 'war & peace'
Dix created the late Singen mural 'war & peace' using the method of Kurt Wehlte (Stuttgart), applying Keim mineral paint technique A to silicate plaster. It is only the final application of a fixative to the painting that creates the fresco effect. The mural was developed through preliminary sketches, which were then transferred to the wall with the help of scale cartoons and a grid system, by Dix and his assistants.
An interesting footnote in German-German art history is the involvement of Ernst Bursche, a student of Dix's from Dresden, which highlights Dix's excellent contacts in the GDR, where he travelled annually from 1949 to 1967.
Content and composition
The well-preserved, landscape-format mural is divided into pictorial segments and structured by three figurative scenes and an axial, linear compositional framework.
Following the classical representation of the 'Last Judgement' or 'Law and Grace', the teaching content is conveyed in three parts by juxtaposing thesis and antithesis, resolving the conflict in a synthesis.
This approach is typical of Dix, who throughout his life drew on old subjects and compositions, always seeing himself as part of the painting tradition.
On the left, we see the flagellation, a fire-breathing tank, dead bodies and people in a dungeon, as well as the historicising architecture of wartime. The risen Christ, the dove of peace, sprouting trees, sunny fields, a mother with children and a bricklayer in front of new buildings on the opposite side all symbolise peace and the 'new era' that dawned with reconstruction.
Christ, elevated and hanging on a cross of branches in the centre of the composition, meaningfully mediates between the two halves of the picture.
In keeping with the spirit of the times, an attempt is made to invoke values that were, and still are, binding for all sections of society. The diagonal line rising from the bottom left to the top right can also be interpreted as representing progress and development; it is only through the Christian sacrifice of the cross that the path leads to a new era of peace.
Otto Dix and Singen
Like many artists of the so-called 'inner emigration', Otto Dix lived in the Hegau and on the Höri peninsula on Lake Constance from 1936 onwards. For many of the 'Höri artists', the annual 'Singen Art Exhibitions', held from 1947 onwards, became important forums for showcasing their work after it had been ostracised for so long.
The politician Theopont Diez, who provided political support for this series of exhibitions, was friends with several 'Höri artists', including Dix. One important bond between them was probably Dix's late work, which shows a turn towards Christian themes. This corresponds with the Christian humanism of the conservative, Catholic post-war politician Diez. This return to Christian, or rather German, humanist traditions represented a conservative-traditional form of renewal.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Theopont Diez vehemently advocated for Dix to paint a 'Guernica', which, in light of the experiences of the Second World War, should illustrate 'our work and our responsibility between war and peace'. The two self-assured men successfully resolved the tension between client and artist that is typical of commissioned works in the modern era.
Diez insisted that the 'peace landscape' should be compositionally balanced with the 'war side', while Dix broke with conventional ecclesiastical iconography in his depiction of the three Christ figures, approaching the subject more openly.
