55 - Otto Dix

Otto Dix Bildnisse Lotte und John Dix 1950 Oil on canvas. 60.7 x 73.5 cm. Framed. With artist's mark and dated '50' in ochre lower right. Inscribed "DIX-RANDEGG" by hand on the back of the stretcher. - In very good condition. A minimal retouch. Löffler 1950/9 Provenance Private ownership, Randegg; Private ownership, Hesse In the 1950s Otto Dix created a number of affectionate images of children who were related to him, and these include our painting. The most common motif from this period was Bettina, the only child of the artist’s daughter Nelly. After Nelly died at a young age, Otto and Martha Dix adopted their grandchild. Here, however, Dix has created a heartfelt image of his daughter-in-law Charlotte (“Lotte”) with her son. Lotte was the first wife of Jan, Dix’s youngest son, and their child John Oliver was born in 1950. The composition is defined by an extraordinary and harmonious palette dominated by a bluish violet, rose, ochre and brown with accents in a cool, light blue. The motif is centred around little John, who is wrapped in a blanket. The light, fresh tones the artist has selected for the portrait of the child stand in contrast to the dark-coloured patterns of the clothing and curtain and the elaborately curled hairstyle of his mother. The child simultaneously seems to be embedded within these warm, ornamentally structured surfaces. John and his cousin Bettina were the same age, and they are portrayed together in a drawing from 1951 (“John und Bettina”, pencil on paper, Lorenz SW 6.3.5). A few years later, the two children were once again depicted playing together (“Kinder mit Schaukelpferd [Bettina und John]”, 1955, oil on canvas, Löffler 1955/5).