Nude Old Woman, Sitting, 1923

In his drawing, Otto Dix (1891–1969) shows us the feeble body of an aged woman, depicting her sitting naked and slumped on a rudimentarily sketched bed in a tranquil pose, looking to the side, with her hair up. Her pose, with her round back, the gaunt ribcage above her drooping breasts and a rounded stomach, seems to express a sense of disillusionment. Her left hand resting by her side, she is propping herself up on her angled right arm. Her profile is distinctive, her large, straight nose appearing in contrast to her low forehead and narrow eyes. Her skinny legs disappear into the edge of the image plane. Using purposeful pencil strokes and smudging the traces of graphite with his fingers, the painter and graphic artist shaped the figure and vividly carved out the signs of transience inscribed in the ageing body. Dix’s work on paper is an unsparing confrontation with mortality and hopelessness.

MH, 2023