A working draft for the Final Project in the framework of "Art and Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies For Your Classroom" by Lisa Mazzola (March 2014) on Coursera learning platform.

1. Pragertraße, Dresden, 2014

3. Pragertraße, Dresden, 1945

5. Pragertraße (1920)

7. Pragertraße (1920)
by Otto Dix
(1891-1969)

9. Pragertraße (1920)
by Otto Dix
(1891-1969)
101x81 cm.

11. Pragertraße (1920)
by Otto Dix
(1891-1969)
101x81 cm.
Oil on canvas and collage.

13. Pragertraße (1920)
by Otto Dix
(1891-1969)
101x81 cm.
Oil on canvas and collage.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany

14. Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix
(2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969)
• German painter and
printmaker, noted for his
ruthless and harshly realistic
depictions of Weimar society
and the brutality of war.
• One of the most important
artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit
(new fact-ed-ness).
• Dix was profoundly affected by
the sights of the war, and
would later describe a
recurring nightmare in which
he crawled through destroyed
houses. He represented his
traumatic experiences in many
subsequent works

15. Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix
(2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969)
• When the Nazis came to power in
Germany, they regarded Dix as a
degenerate artist and had him
sacked from his post as an art
teacher at the Dresden Academy.
He later moved to Lake Constance
in the southwest of Germany.
Dix's paintings The Trench and
War cripples were exhibited in
the state-sponsored Munich 1937
exhibition of degenerate art,
Entartete Kunst. They were later
burned.
• His paintings that were
considered "degenerate" were
discovered among the 1500+
paintings hidden away by an art
dealer and his son in 2012

16. "If one paints someone's portrait, one
should not know him if possible. No
knowledge. I do not want to know him
at all. I want only to see what is there,
the outside. The inner follows by itself.
It is mirrored in the visible."

17. Germany in 1920
• Ruined economy, social unrest, political crisis
• In revolutionary agitation since late 1918
– January 1919 Spartacist revolution failure
– March 1920 Kapp coup d’état failure
• Unstable centrist-socialist-leftist supported
government
– A roaring anti-Semitism
– A roaring anti-Communism
– A harsh need for scape-goats
– Extreme poverty for the lower classes
– A wide-spread sentiment of a nation being wronged by its
victors
– A need for order
– A rhetoric about revenge

18. Pair, think, share
Use a handout that you can find here.

19. • What strikes
you most at a
first glance?
• What figures
dominate the
painting?
• Why?
Possible
answers:
• Heavily
packed
figures
• A sense of
disorder and
confusion
• The ugliness
• Some figures
are off the
frame
• One / two
crippled men
dominate the
painting
• The empty
eyes of the
beggar
• The pride of
the crippled
man in front;
his awkward
imbalance.

20. Art is exorcism. I paint dreams and
visions too; the dreams and visions of
my time. Painting is the effort to
produce order; order in yourself. There
is much chaos in me, much chaos in
our time.

21. • Would you
describe the
two men?
• Watch in
detail (if
need go to 1
and 2): How
did these two
men got their
infirmity?
• How did you
think?
Possible
answers:
• They are
crippled as a
result of
being injured
in WWI
• The figure in
front has a
medal on his
chest
• The beggar-
like has an
empty look
on his face –
is he blinded?

22. • Would you
describe the
two men?
• Watch in
detail: How
did these two
men got their
infirmity?
• How did you
think?
Possible
answers:
• They are
crippled as a
result of
being injured
in WWI
• The figure in
front has a
medal on his
chest
• The beggar-
like veteran
has two
wooden legs
and an
artificial left
arm
• The same
veteran is
probably
blind and
disarticulated

23. • Would you
describe the
two men?
• Watch in
detail: How
did these two
men got their
infirmity?
• How did you
think?
Possible
answers:
• They are
crippled as a
result of
being injured
in WWI
• The figure in
front has a
medal on his
chest
• The beggar-
like veteran
has two
wooden legs
and an
artificial left
arm
• The same
veteran is
probably
blind and
disarticulated

24. • Do these two
veterans
communicate
to each
other?
• What is their
mutual
attitude?
• How did you
think?
Possible
answers:
• Yes / No
• The beggar
seems to try
to
communicate
to the other
man; he has
some weird
eyes though;
is he listening
to the sound
of the
wheeled-
board?
• The man in
blue seems to
all-proudly
ignore the
other veteran

25. • How would
you describe
the
sentiments of
one towards
the other?
• Why would
you say so?
Possible answers:
• The beggar
seems to be in
pain and
despair; he
seeks for
sympathy and
alms
• The veteran is
in despair too;
he strives to
balance what is
left from his
body; he seems
like he wants to
hide his
desperation by
wearing a
proud
expression; he
has no time for
sympathy

26. • What’s in the
background?
• Watch in
detail: How
the
background
relates to the
two crippled
war
veterans?
• How did you
reason?

27. • What do you
see? Watch
in detail!
• How does
what you see
relate to the
two crippled
war
veterans?
• How did you
think?
• What were
the
sentiments of
this figure
towards the
two war
veterans she
just passed-
by? Could
you give any
motives?
• How did you
reason?

28. • What do you
see? Watch
in detail!
• How does
what you see
relate to the
two crippled
war
veterans?
• How did you
think?
• What were
the
sentiments of
this figure
towards the
two war
veterans he
just passed-
by? What
would be a
possible
motive?
• How did you
reason?

29. • What do you
see? Watch
in detail!
• How does
what you see
relate to the
two crippled
war
veterans?
• How did you
think?
• What were
the
sentiments of
this figure
towards the
two war
veterans he is
just going to
cross? ? Can
you infer any
motives?
• How did you
reason?

30. • What do you
see? Watch
in detail! (If
need go to 3)
• How its
presence
would be
justified?
• How did you
think?
• What might
this figure
feel? Seek
fo?
• How did you
reason?

31. • What do you
see? Watch
in detail!
• How its
presence
would be
justified?
• How did you
think?
• What might
this figure
feel? Seek
fo?
• How did you
reason?

32. • Do you think
the dog may
be the pet of
some passer-
by? If yes ,
could you
assume of
whom?
• Whom the
dog is
barking and
showing it
teeth at?
• Suppose the
dog adds
some light
connotation
to the scene;
would you
imagine what
a
connotation
this might
be?

33. • Suppose the
cat adds
some light
connotation
to the scene;
would you
imagine what
a
connotation
this might
be?

34. • Look carefully
at the
reflections on
the windows;
what do you
see?
• How do these
reflections
alter the
vantage point
of us viewers?
• How did you
think?
• Would you
explain how
this may add
to our
understanding
of what
happens on
Pragerßtrasse
in Dresden of
1920?

35. • On the wall
between the
two window-
shops
someone has
written (in
German):
“Dumm”, i.e.
“Dummy”,
“idiot”; in the
context of
the whole
picture,
whom the
viewer might
think this
“dummy” is
addressed
to? Who
seems to be
an “idiot”?

36. As many artists
of his time, Dix
mixed up
painting with
collage, using
pamphlets and
newspaper
cutouts; here he
used four in-all.
Two of them are
very relevant to
the subject:

37. As many artists
of his time, Dix
mixed up
painting with
collage, using
pamphlets and
newspaper
cutouts; here he
used four in-all.
Two of them are
very relevant to
the subject.
One is a
reversed rugged
piece of
newspaper
thrown on the
sidewalk.

38. If we rotate the
detail, we get
the words:
]iktatur von
rechts,
i.e. dictatorship
of the Right
• How would
you connect
this
newspaper
article to the
main figures
of the two
crippled war
veterans?
• Why would
you connect
it so?

39. As many artists
of his time, Dix
mixed up
painting with
collage, using
pamphlets and
newspaper
cutouts; he used
four in-all.
Two of them are
very relevant to
the subject.
Another is an
equally rugged
piece of
newspaper or
tract, right
under the front
of the wheeled
skate; it reads
“Juden raus!”,
i.e. “Jews, out!” .

40. • How would
you connect
this to the
main figures
of the two
crippled war
veterans?
• Why would
you connect
it so?
• Would you
connect this
with the
previous
piece of
newspaper?
How?
• Explain your
thinking

41. Dix painted in a
very carefully
discrete way this
object: it is not
get immediately
noticed – this is
a sickle!
• What is the
relation of
this sickle to
the rest of
the painting?
• How did you
think?
• Which of the
figures is/are
threatened
by the Sickle
of Death?
• How did you
reason?

42. • Can you spot
anything
beautiful in
this painting?
Watch
carefully one
by one the
elements
which form
the whole?
• If you did so,
can you relate
it/them to the
rest of the
painting?
Possible answers:
• The lady in the
rose dress; the
fabric of the
dress, the high-
heeled shoes
• The wigs
• The female
figure with the
nude torso in
the right-hand
store window
• The head in
the rugged
newspaper
• Either beauty
refers to
inanimate
objects, or to
frivolous, even
narcissistic
figures.
• Useless and
careless to the
main theme

43. • What can you
hear? Watch
carefully, in
order to
hear!..
Possible answers:
• The rustle of the
lady’s dress
• The sound of
steps of passers-
by
• The child’s
mumbling
• The voice of the
beggar
• The creaking of
the skate wheels
• The tapping of
the cane of the
gentleman with
the wooden
hand, of the well-
dressed veteran
• The cat’s meow
• The dog’s barking
• Cars’ engines,
maybe? A
tramway? Cf.
initial photo

44. Writing

45. Consider what you have learned in
History class, and the analysis of
Pragertraße by Otto Dix, choose
one of the following topics, and
compose a text of 250-300 words:
1. What Otto Dix denounces in
Germany of the 1920? What
does he warn about?
2. Choose the perspective of one
of the five adult figures in the
painting, and give:
• Their thoughts about what
is happening on the
sidewalk of Pragertraße in
1920 Dresden, in 1920
Germany.
3. In a text of 250 words name:
• one major consequence of
the defeat of Germany,
that can be understood as
a reason for the rise of
Nazism in the early 1930s
from the people’s point of
view.

46. Pragertraße is the main street of Dresden, a city in Eastern Germany, on the river Elbe,
capital of Saxony, close to the Czech border. Otto Dix lived there, and taught in Dresden
Academy until 1933. From 1920 on, Otto Dix contributes to expositions of the Dresdner
Sezession (Dresden Secession) of the expressionists, and adheres to the Dada group. he
uses violent patterns and colors. In his paintings and collages he depicts contemporary
social reality and the consequences of the WW I, especially the loss of dignity of those
wounded at the war front, as in this painting and also in The Merchant of Matches (in
1920, as well). The central figure of this invalid and disarticulated man is stubbing. Otto
Dix fought in 1914-1918 WW I, and this experience is an important topic of wis work
(Triptych of the War). He feels what millions of human beings felt during the war: man
becomes a toy, a puppet , and that is exactly what evokes that veteran in the center of
Pragertraße: a disjointed puppet. but the artist moves further on: the hand of a passer-by
in the first plan is made of wood. The little girl in front of the store window is depicted
like a doll. In the shop window, wigs and prostheses -- humans have lost their human
dimension; in front of the war, man is revealed to be a fragile object. he is denied, and he
has no more to do than indict and denounce. This is what the artist does, just like the
dead hung from a tree does in the Triptych of War, pointing to the corpses with his finger.
In the the newspaper it is written: "Jews, out!". Dix already perceives that anti-Semitism
is going to bring disasters in the future, the resentment and hatred that brought up WW
II. Dix didn't have any chance with the wars: he has been mobilized in both of them. His
Dresden didn’t have more chance than him: in February 1945, the bombs thrown on the
city by the 800 planes of the Allies caused 35.000 deaths, ruined the city up to an 80%.

47. • http://www.theartstory.org/artist-dix-
otto.htm
• http://www.peintre-
analyse.com/otto_dix_rue-de_prague.htm