©2014 Kaia L. Magnusen ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “‘GHASTLY FEMALES’ AND ‘WANTON CORROSION’: THE APPROPRIATION AND MODERNIZATION OF GERMAN OLD MASTER MOTIFS IN OTTO DIX’S IMAGES OF WEIMAR WOMEN” By KAIA L. MAGNUSEN A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Art History written under the direction of Andrés Zervigón and approved by _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “‘GHASTLY FEMALES’ AND ‘WANTON CORROSION’: THE APPROPRIATION AND MODERNIZATION OF GERMAN OLD MASTER MOTIFS IN OTTO DIX’S IMAGES OF WEIMAR WOMEN” by KAIA L. MAGNUSEN Dissertation Director: Andrés Zervigón Otto Dix, who was associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit artistic style that arose during Germany’s chaotic Weimar Republic (1918 – 1933) appropriated themes and motifs used by Old Master artists and manipulated them to address both his personal anxieties and Germany’s unstable present. He specifically engaged Old Master motifs pertaining to death, decay and women who cause men harm including the Totentanz, vanitas motifs, the Judgment of Paris and witches. He made no secret of his admiration for artists of the past such as Hans Baldung Grien, Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Dürer and his calculated references to their works were not only acknowledgements of the inspiration he found in them but also challenges to their artistic legacies. Dix was particularly intrigued by Old Master motifs that linked women, sex and death as these themes coincided with key elements of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. During the interwar years, anxieties about gender politics manifested themselves in debates pertaining to the changing status and roles of women. In particular, the economically and ii sexually liberated Neue Frau was perceived as posing a threat to the patriarchal social order and to German masculinity. In light of Germany’s humiliating defeat, “deviant” women, including New Women and prostitutes, were perceived as being socially and morally suspect and were accused of a variety of offenses ranging from the corruption of society to the emasculation of German men. In many of his Weimar works, Dix linked the ideas of death and decay with images of “fallen” women, such as New Women, widows and prostitutes. In these ambiguous representations of “deviant” females in which the distinctions between prostitutes and non-prostitutes are elided, the tensions between perceptions and images of prostitutes and New Women are confronted but never fully resolved. In these works, Dix deliberately referenced and ambitiously manipulated Old Master motifs and incorporated elements of Nietzsche’s philosophy in order to make a case for his own artistic legacy and to propagate a public persona that fulfilled Nietzschean ideals of the Übermensch. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have written this dissertation without a support network at Rutgers University and beyond. I would like to start by thanking my advisers Dr. Susan Sidlauskas and Dr. Andrés Zervigón, as well as Geralyn Colvil, for their guidance and support. Likewise, I would like to thank the New York Public Library for the use of their resources and for granting me a place in the Wertheim Study. I am appreciative of Jay Barksdale for assistance and general expertise. I also want to extend a sincere “Danke schön” to those at the Universität Konstanz, especially the wonderful Tina Lohfing. I am grateful to the following for their time and assistance: Rainer and Bettina Pfefferkorn and Pablo of the Otto Dix Stiftung Vaduz; Ilka Voermann of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Dr. Birgit Dalbajewa of the Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden; Dr. Thomas Richter and Ines Otschik at the Christian-Schad-Stiftung, Aschaffenburg; Holger Peter Saupe of the Kunstsammlung Gera/Otto-Dix-Haus; Astrid Lindinger of the Stadtverwaltung Gera; Hans Janocha and Daniela Uher of the Deutsches KunstArchiv im Germanischen NationalMuseum, Nürnberg; Dr. Katja Leiskau and Annika-Valeska Froese of Die Sächsische Landesbibliothek Staats-und-Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB), Dresden; C. Stade and Johannes Wendt of the Stadtarchiv, Dresden; Ragna Nicolaus of the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv/Hauptstaatsarchiv, Dresden; Thomas Bauer-Friedrich of the Museum Gunsenhauser, Chemnitz; Thomas Rosemann and Tina Fritzsche at the Kusthaus Zurich Bibliothek; Michael Kuthe and Norbert Fromm at the Stadtarchiv Konstanz. Lastly, I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to my parents, Dr. James and Linda Magnusen, to my brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Mar and Shauna Magnusen, to my uncle and aunt, Dr. Karl and Olga Magnusen, to my mentor and friend, Dr. E. John Walford, and to my dear friend, Susan Shipe, for their encouragement and advice. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Dr. James and Linda Magnusen, in thanks for their unfailing love and unwavering support. This work is also dedicated to the helpful and kind, Rainer and Bettina Pfefferkorn, and to the Weimar priestess of depravity herself, the incomparable, outrageous and unforgettable, Anita Berber. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv DEDICATION .....................................................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................ vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: OTTO DIX, OLD MASTERS AND NEW WOMEN ............1 II. DEATH, DANCE AND DIONYSUS: OTTO DIX’S MANIPULATION OF OLD MASTER TOTENTANZ IMAGERY IN HIS IMAGES OF WEIMAR NEW WOMEN ...............................................................................................................24 III. VANITY, THY NAME IS NEW WOMAN: OTTO DIX’S APPROPRIATION OF VANITAS MOTIFS IN HIS IMAGES OF WEIMAR WIDOWS, PROSTITUTES AND NEW WOMEN .................................................................90 IV. FALLEN WOMEN, “OVERMAN:” THE IMPACT OF OLD MASTER IMAGES OF THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS AND WITCHES ON OTTO DIX’S PAINTINGS OF GROUPS OF PROSTITUTES ...............................................154 V. CONCLUSION: OTTO DIX: NEW MAN, NEW MASTER ...........................218 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................318 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. August Sander, photograph of Otto Dix, 1928. ........................................................229 2. Postcard showing Otto Dix (standing in the back row) with the field artillery, ca. 1916. ..........................................................................................................................230 3. Photograph of Otto Dix, ca. 1917. ............................................................................231 4. Otto Dix, Friedrich Nietzsche, ca. 1914, green-tinted plaster, almost life-sized, formerly Städtische Kunstsammlungen Dresden, confiscated in 1937, missing since 1939. ..........................................................................................................................232 5. Otto Dix, Friedrich Nietzsche, ca. 1914, green-tinted plaster, almost life-sized, formerly Städtische Kunstsammlungen Dresden, confiscated in 1937, missing since 1939. ..........................................................................................................................233 6. Max Klinger, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1902, bronze, 52.6 x 25 x 34 cm (20 ¾ x 9 7/8 x 13 3/8 in.), Inv. P 155. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipsig Germany. (Photo: Ursula Gerstenberger). ..............................................................................................234 7. Otto Dix, Prometheus—Grenzen der Menschheit (Prometheus—Limits of Mankind), 1919, oil on canvas. Dimensions unknown. Lost. ....................................................235 8. Otto Dix, Ich DIX bin das A und das O (I Dix am the A and the O), from the portfolio “WERDEN,” 1919, woodcut on paper, Image size: 18 x 15.8 cm (7 1/8 x 6 ¼ in.); Sheet size: 42.7 x 34.7 cm (16 ¾ x 13 5/8 in.). Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz-Museum Gunzenhauser. ...........................................................................................................236 9. Otto Dix, Selbstbildnis mit Nelke (Self-Portrait with Carnation), 1912, oil on paper, 73 x 50 cm (28 ¾ x 19 5/8 in.). Formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, confiscated in 1937, now in the collection of The Detroit Institute of Arts......................................237 vii 10. Otto Dix, Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins), 1933, mixed media on wood, 179 x 120 cm (70 ½ x 47 ¼ in.). Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe ...............238 11. Hans Holbein the Younger, Das Alt Weyb (The Old Woman), 1538, from Hans Holbein d.J.: Bilder des Todes, Leipzig, 1931. ........................................................239 12. Otto Dix, Selbstbildnis mit Gattin (Self-Portrait with Wife), 1923, oil glaze over tempera on canvas. Formerly Museum Moritzburg, Halle/Saale, missing................240 13. Otto Dix, An die Schönheit (To Beauty), 1922, oil and collage