San Diego Museum of Art - Black Nude with a Sailor

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Black Nude with a Sailor

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Bookmark: https://collection.sdmart.org/objects-1/info/25558

Black Nude with a Sailor

Otto Dix, German, (December 2, 1891–July 25, 1969)

Creation date: 1922

Other Information

Type: Watercolor

Medium and Support: Watercolor, graphite on paper

Credit Line: Gift from the Estate of Vance E. Kondon and Liesbeth Giesberger.

Accession Number: 2011.93

Dimensions: 14 13/16 in. x 19 5/8 in. (37.62 cm x 49.85 cm)

Label Copy

Otto Dix’s career began in Dresden, where he emulated the slightly older artists of Die Brücke, but he came into his own as an artist during the war and afterwards. Much of his work focuses on the decadence of postwar Germany and depicts war profiteers, prostitutes, crippled veterans, and sexual violence. Prostitution proliferated in Germany after World War I, when poverty and widowhood left many women with no other recourse for survival. In Dix’s caustic view, a brothel scene like the present work is the very symbol of social depravity and corruption. The hulking sailor on leave—a familiar subject—seems about to transfer the violence of war into sexual aggression, despite the leering grins on the faces of both figures.
Last Updated: 7/26/2012

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Early 20th Century German Art from the Vance E. Kondon Collection , 1/28/1984 - 3/11/1984

The Human Beast San Diego Museum of Art , 7/21/2012 - 11/11/2012

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Mr. Steven L. Brezzo and Ida Katherine Rigby. Early 20th Century German Art from the Vance E. Kondon Collection The San Diego Museum Art. January 1984
Page Number: 9, 10, Figure Number: 6, page 11

Marks

Inscription, On reverse:

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This object is a member of the following portfolios:

Modern and Contemporary

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