The Whore and The Heroine- The Women of Degenerate Art and The Art of the Third Reich

0

THE
WHORE
AND
THE
HEROINE:

THE
WOMEN
OF
DEGENERATE
ART
AND
THE
ART
OF
THE
THIRD
REICH

AMANDA
GOUGH

1

Introduction
In 1937, Otto Dix’s lithograph titled Leonie (see figure 1), hung on a wall as an
intricate part of an influential exhibition, playing a key role in the exhibition’s message to
the women of Germany.1
Viewers leaned in, furrowing their brow while Leonie, eyes
sunken in, stared back under the brim of her hat. In most galleries, guests would stand in
contemplation, attempting to understand the context behind the image. Unfortunately in
this gallery there was no contemplation, no subjective position, only judgment. The
viewer’s attitudes towards modern art were determined before they walked through the
doors. Joseph Goebbels, the minister of art and propaganda, was successful in
manipulating the masses. The guests adopted Nazi opinions of modern art and claimed it
as their own. Leonie was hung in the Entartete Kunst (The Degenerate Art Exhibition) as
an example of immoral art within Nazi Germany. The title Leonie was changed to
Dirnkopf, or “Head of a Prostitute.”2
As Dirnkopf, The lithograph was easily read to
support Nazi Ideals. Leonie was a prostitute and prostitutes were corrupting German
blood and culture.
Paintings with the similar realistic qualities of Leonie began to surface in the late
1800’s. These paintings continued to evolve through out the end of the First Great War.
In these paintings, modern artists such as Otto Dix introduced new representations of the
female body. They acknowledged women’s physical flaws, social statuses, and included

1
Barron, Stephanie. Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-garde in Nazi Germany. Los
Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles County Museum of Art ;, 1991.
2
Ibid.

2

contemporary issues. Working class women and prostitutes were being painted on the
same canvases that had once displayed The Madonna. In the portrait Leonie, Dix’s uses
expressive techniques to help the viewer identify her social status as a prostitute. Dix
altered proportion and used gestural lines with satirical motive to show her emaciated
body and emphasize characteristics a prostitute would conventionally possess. His over
simplification of form is deliberate. Dix’s primitive characteristics seem to signify her
primal act as a prostitute. Sex was and still is the very nature of human instinct.
The Nazi regime preached against Dix and other similar artists, claiming they
were praising degenerate behavior as an ideal and therefore had no place within new
Germany. In order to educate the public on how German citizens should look and behave,
the Third Reich began using art as a propaganda platform. Nazi artists began painting life
under Nazi rule and holding exhibitions to teach women their proper roles within German
society. There was a national battle waged against the contemporary woman through the
discretization of Modern art. Condemning Modern art and its representations of women
was strategic as it allowed the Nazi’s to promote their solution to the immoral problem.
The salvation of the German culture began with Hitler’s definition of the ideal German
woman. This paper will explore both representations of the women as seen through the
eyes of Modern artists and German artists of the Third Reich. In particular, I will
examine how the depictions of women and their bodies were paraded and exploited in
The House of German Art and in The Degenerate Art Exhibition.
Weimar Germany and the New Woman

3

After the First World War, Germany was in a state of political and economical
chaos. The German people were led to believe they were winning the war right up until
they signed the peace treaty, surrendering and accepting full blame for the war. As a
result, Germany was forced to pay high war reparations to Great Britain and other allied
countries, causing high inflation and the downturn of the economy. Life for the working
class was a struggle within Weimar Germany. The presence of prostitution rose, while
the men who did return from war frequented the pubs, participating in “morally deviant”
behavior. Leonie, and the prostitutes she represents, were part of a group of social
outcasts within Weimar Germany. The majority of German citizens resented their “weak”
government, arguing it had stabbed its citizens in the back and essentially blamed the
government for the interwar turmoil. However, along with the struggle of hard labor and
low wages, also came independence for many women. Interwar period gave birth to a
new woman. She worked outside the home, cut her hair short, smoked, drank, was
sexually promiscuous, and started to wear skirts above the knee. The new woman, in all
of her glorious defiance, threatened the masculinity of the public space, and her
promiscuity endangered the family unit (something Hitler held in high importance). She
drank in pubs, and had casual encounters with men and sometimes, other women.
Otto Dix bases his portrayal of the new woman off of the real life example,
Sylvia Bon Harden. Although his paining Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden
(1926), she is seen as a journalist, she was actually a poet and short story author who
worked in Germany (see figure 2).3
He promoted her androgynous presence by

3
"Dix, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia Von Harden." Khan Academy. Accessed April 24,
2015. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/art-between-wars/neue-
sachlichkeit/v/dix-portrait-of-sylvia-von-harden-1926.

4

heightening and exaggerating her masculine features. Her nose and chin are elongated,
and her hair is closely cropped above her chin. Dix gave her a very flat figure with almost
no presence of breasts or hips, in place of her feminine body parts are her hands, which
had been exaggerated to reiterate her androgenic appearance.4
She sat in the pub, a male
dominated space, both drinking and smoking. Independent women like Sylvia von
Harding and the images they promoted, threatened Hitler’s societal hierarchy. Under
Weimar Germany, women began working in public positions. There were 100,000 female
teachers, 3000 female doctors and 13,00 female musicians. They would soon be fired
within months of Hitler’s rule.5
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) took advantage of a rebuilding country and promised a
better way of life for its citizens. The German people, only aware of their present
suffering, gravitated towards Hitler’s fictitious picture of reformed German culture. He
and his men realized artwork was able to manipulate desires on an emotional level. Art
was able seduce the people by visualizing a life so many longed for while secretly
pushing a hidden political agenda.6
Visual Propaganda, a very important part of Nazi
control, had people believing a flourishing culture was the key to a united, thriving
country. In 1933 Joseph Goebbels was appointed the Reich Minister of Propaganda in
Nazi Germany.7
He was in charge of all cultural events, often giving speeches filled with
Nazi doctrine. Goebbels became the second most important person besides Hitler at the

4
Ibid

5
"The Role of Women in Nazi Germany." The Role of Women in Nazi Germany.
Accessed April 24, 2015.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Women_Nazi_Germany.htm.

6
Art
in
the
Third
Reich.
BBC.Film

7
Ibid

5

time as he controlled public thought. 8
He chose what the public saw, heard, and learned
about the new government. Goebbels had direct involvement in both ends of the
propaganda spectrum. Goebbels was in charge of opening the German House of Art,
which showcased Nazi approved artwork, as well as organizing the Degenerate Art
Exhibition, which will be explained in depth subsequently following the discussion of
Nazi approved art. Both exhibits, though in different ways, helped mold German women
into model citizens.9
Women in The House of German Art
The House of German Art opened in 1937, the same year as The Degenerate Art
Exhibition, showcasing as the revival of German art. Though Goebbels curated the
Artwork, Hitler personally approved every piece. He held his artists to the same standards
as great masters such as Michelangelo and Raphael, demanding large imperial statues of
soldiers and goddesses. The statues stood on both sides of the rooms complementing the
timeless paintings that mimicked classical antiquity. The art in the German House
represented everything modern art didn’t. Every piece focused on representational
accuracy with minimal appearance of brushstrokes. The artist’s hand was not to be seen
within the artwork, the viewer only focused on the scenes and subjects inside the
paintings and how they represented the best of Germany.
Women were portrayed predominately two different ways in The House of
German Art. They were either seen as a classical object to be admired or a mother
exuding national pride. Women had to be seen as the essence of femininity but femininity

8
Ibid

9
The Role of Women in Nazi Germany." The Role of Women in Nazi Germany.

6

was biased with an emphasis on virtue and motherhood. Hitler stressed importance on
family and reintroduced separate sphere ideology. Women were favorably depicted
holding children or breast-feeding to show they were not only fruitful but also providing
a service to Germany and its future.10
Motherhood was considered a national service.
Mothers were displayed within a nostalgic scenic view pointing towards virtues of the
past and pushing them as a model for the future.
Wolf Willrich’s "Family" (see figure 3) is a perfect example of Nazi family
ideals. The family surrounds the new baby, while it breast-feeds from its mother.
Breastfeeding was a popular composition choice in art of the third Reich. The act
indicated how the mother was fruitful and able to multiply, supplying her country with
more model citizens. The family is surrounded by a flourishing garden, symbolizing yet
again the fertility of the mother as well as the flourishing country under Nazi rule. No one
possesses individual characteristics, they all share the same physical features advertised
as Hitler’s ideal Arian race: Blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and athletic build.11
Their clothes relate back to a time that doesn’t exist anymore, a time before
industrialization, when people mostly harvested their goods instead of buying them from
a store. It was a time before the new woman existed, when women spent their days
organizing the home, and raising their children. The old fashion family dynamic
promoted patriarchal family structure and the hard working German family. The
composition is very calming, ordered and symmetrical. The painting reminds the public
of “the good ole days” when the quality of life was enriched. Artwork needed to be

10

11
Art
of
the
Third
Reich.
BBC.
Film

7

pleasing to the eye. Its purpose was to showcase a world of ease, inferring the Fuhrer
would implement this new world.
Limiting the representation of contemporary German women to the family unit
was a strategic way to limit her desire for liberation. Hitler felt the emancipation of
women was “invited by Jewish Intellectuals” and “the German woman had no need to
emancipate herself”12
(Adolf Hitler’s speech to the national socialist women’s league on
September 8th 1934). He refers to the woman’s world as the “small world”, meaning the
private sphere of the home.13
In his same speech he exclaims,
“If the man’s world is said to be the State, his struggle, his
readiness to devote his powers to the service of the community,
then it may perhaps be said that the woman’s is a smaller world.
For her world is her husband, her family, her children, and her
home. But what would become of the greater world if there were
no one to tend and care for the smaller one? How could the greater
world survive if there were no one to make the cares of the smaller
world the content of their lives? No, the greater world is built on
the foundation of this smaller world.”14
Within this passage, Hitler signifies the importance of a woman’s world, though
small, was vital to the structure of German society. His reasoning created a sense of

12
"Two Speeches about Women - National-Socialism." NationalSocialism. Accessed
April 24, 2015. http://www.national-socialism.com/two-speeches-women/.

13
Ibid

14
Ibid

8

patriotic purpose and responsibility German women would want to attribute themselves
with. Being a good citizen was all about self-sacrifice for the betterment of Germany.
Women were needed to bring new German life, more importantly German soldiers, into
the world. The regime needed women to see themselves as fertile beings, responsible for
building the new race. The German woman of the 1930’s was responsible for the future
Germany and there wouldn’t be a Germany without her. Hitler continued his speech by
saying,
“The sacrifices which the man makes in the struggle of his
nation, the woman makes in the preservation of that nation in
individual cases. What the man gives in courage on the
battlefield, the woman gives in eternal self-sacrifice, in eternal
pain and suffering. Every child that a woman brings into the
world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people.”
15
Here, Hitler compares childbirth with battle, including women as soldiers along with the
men in their lives. Hitler not only stressed the issue by referring to a woman’s patriotic
duty to her country, but also by offering compensation. From a very young age, girls
were taught their purpose was to marry a fine German man and take care of their
children.16
One of the early laws Hitler passed was the Encouragement of Marriage. The
law stated all new married couples would receive 1000 marks (roughly 9 moths of

15
Ibid

16
Accessed April 22, 2015

9

income).17
With the birth of one child, 25 percent of the loan did not have to be paid
back. With the birth of another, 50 percent of the loan did not need to be paid back.
Having four children meant you did not need to pay the loan back at all.18
When women were not painted along with their family, they were often depicted
with other women. Seen harmonious with nature, man was the hunter, while the woman
was associated with nature.19
Body proportion favored classical goddesses, ambiguous
and with out any individual traits. Artists supporting the Third Reich often looked to
classical paintings as influence for their work. In this Untitled and undated painting
attributed to an artist and Nazi party member (see figure 4), the woman reclining on the
bottom of the paintings shares a resemblance with the Venus of Urbino by Titian (1538)
(see figure 5). She lies in the same pose with her dog curled at her feet. The artist likely
used this popular Renaissance painting to educate the men and women on beauty and
virtue every woman should possess. The woman standing held reference to Athena, the
goddess of wisdom, courage, and strength, and the virgin patroness of Athens. The three
classically rendered women sit unaware of their nudity, as this scene depicts them in a
divine state. Nudity in reference to classical antiquity was different than the nakedness of
a real woman. Educated German citizens would easily understand the reference to Venus
and Athena. By endorsing imagery that required classical knowledge, Hitler was able to
advocate the division of class.
Though art historians can explain compositional qualities within Nazi German art,
it is important to explain that there is actually no such thing as Nazi style of art. They did

17
Ibid

18
Ibid

19
Art
of
the
Third
Reich.
BBC.
Film

10

not create their own types of paintings but simply commandeered those that already
existed: the portrait, the genre painting, and landscapes.20
Most Germans gravitated
towards the genre painting, which depicted the everyday activities in German life.21
Genre paintings were widely accepted and easily understood. It was easy for the party to
integrate Nazi ideals with these genre paintings.22
A painting could be used as
propaganda simply by putting the word German in front of it. 23
A painting of a young
woman titled “German Mother” would exude patriotism toward the country, which was
of upmost importance to Nazi Ideal. Most figures were not a real people but an idealized
portrait of the ideal race. Germans felt as though art should have a pleasing effect. Social
problems were not mentioned, art had to reflect the joy of life without worry. Art would
showcase a quality of life that did not really exist.
Nazi Propaganda and The Degenerate Art Show
Nazi propaganda was a very well oiled machine; the visual arts were only one
gear. Nazi doctrine surrounded the German public blocking any original thought. It was
intricate, utilizing several different outlets at once to convey their message. In order for
the regime to successfully enforce their cultural ideals en mass, they had to strike at
different angles. In “Propaganda Techniques Within Nazi Germany”, Julius Yourman
explains the different methods Nazis used to shift an entire countries belief system.24

20
Ibid

21
Ibid

22
Ibid

23
Ibid

24
Propaganda Techniques Within Nazi GermanyAuthor(s): Julius YourmanSource:
Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 13, No. 3, Education Under Nazism (Nov., 1939),
pp. 148-163Published by: American Sociological Association

11

The form of propaganda technique seen in art of the Third Reich is called “Glittering
Generalities”.25
By using virtuous words when describing Nazi ideal, the Propagandists
were able to appeal to the public’s emotion of love, generosity, and brotherhood. They
influenced an ideal German society by placing Nazi doctrine in paintings of daily life,
appealing to the people’s patriotic sense of home and country. Where the Nazis used
appealing and inviting ways to promote their ideals, they used harsh accusations to
discredit modern art. This was used to great effect when Goebbels organized the
Degenerate Art Exhibition, showcasing and condemning modern art.
The Degenerate Art Exhibition opened in Munich, July 19, 1937, one day after
the opening ceremony of the House of German Art.26
Joseph Goebbels was put in charge
of curating all of the artwork for the show. Along with his role as curator, Goebbels
printed a guide to explain why the art was deemed “degenerate”. Its purpose was to
educate but in reality, it was just another form of chilling propaganda, infused with
inserts of Hitler’s speeches. For example, the cover of the guide featured a sculpture by
Otto Freundlich called The New Man (1912) (see figure 6)27
. The statue was criticized
for resembling tribal masks; its primitive characteristics were linked to an uncivilized
culture. Freudndlich’s Jewish origin further fueled Hitler’s allegations of the uneducated
Jew, giving Hitler reason to arrest him. Freundlich was detained and sent to the Majdanek
concentration camp in 1943 where he was killed as soon as he arrived.28

25
Ibid

26
Degenerate art: Exhibition Guide : Entartete Kunst : Ausstellungs-Fübrer.
Redding, Conn.: Silver Fox Press., 1972.

27
Khan Academy. Khan Academy. Accessed April 24, 2015.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/art-between-wars/neue-
sachlichkeit/a/art-in-nazi-germany.

28
Ibid

12

Yourman identifies the techniques used in the Degenerate Art Exhibition as
“Name calling”.29
It was a way for the Nazi regime to create judgment with out having to
disclose any evidence proving their claims.30
He says this form of propaganda appealed
to people’s hatred and fear. 31
By merely calling the artwork “degenerate”, Goebbels and
his ministry were promoting negative associations with modern artists. The word
“Degenerate” was used freely within the Nazi regime. Categorizing something as
degenerate was a convenient yet effective way of identifying which causes were
responsible for the “moral declines” in German culture. The word had possessed negative
connotations, making it the perfect word for the Nazis to adopt. Nazi ideology hid
behind a moral façade, utilizing the word as an all-encompassing adjective to preface any
subject or ideal the regime didn’t condone; degenerate motherhood, those with religious
degeneracy, degenerate breeding or bloodlines, and degenerate social behavior. Thus, it
was only appropriate for Goebbels to name the exhibit, The Degenerate Art Exhibition.
The exhibit was separated by sub-categories of different sins, which dwelled in
individual rooms. There were rooms devoted to the degeneracy of religion, race,
sexuality, the military, the Jew, abstract expressionism, African art, and the comparison
of modern artists with the mentally handicapped.32
Goebbels told the guests that certaint
paintings were excluded from the exhibition to protect women’s virtue.33
Goebbels
explains, “Among these painting and drawing are many pornographic images, which

29
Redding, Conn.: Silver Fox Press., 1972

30
Propaganda Techniques Within Nazi GermanyAuthor(s): Julius YourmanSource: Journal of Educational
Sociology, Vol. 13, No. 3, Education Under Nazism (Nov., 1939), pp. 148-163Published by: American
Sociological Association

31
Ibid

32

33
Ibid

13

have been excluded from this show as because it will be seen by women as well.”34
By
Writing this, he implied women’s virtue needed to be protected. It was possible, he
thought, if women were to see the promiscuous paintings, they could be drawn into that
lifestyle, soiling their moral integrity. Moral degradation was a contagious disease
capable of spreading through modern artworks. For those like Goebbels and Hitler, the
cure was to reject and remove those artworks from Germany.
The guide continued, claiming modern artists represented the world as “one big
brothel, and humanity is being made up of nothing but prostitutes and pimps.” 35
In big
bold letters, “The prostitute is raised to an ideal!” headed the page followed by examples
of expressionistic depictions of prostitutes.36
In an excerpt from the corresponding page,
Goebbels commented on the society that would praise these works of art. He raves, “but
what do you manufacture? Deformed cripples and cretins, women who inspire only
disgust, men who are more like wild beasts, children who if they were alive, would be
regarded as gods curse!”37
Goebbels and the Nationalist Socialist Party disregarded the
true message some artists like Dix were sending through their work. Instead of supporting
Otto Dix’s work to reinforce the party’s stance on prostitution, they twisted the original
context to validate their deplorable actions. In order to justify plundering thousands of
paintings, Hitler needed to attribute Modern artists to the moral decline.
Both the discretization of Modern Art and endorsement of Arian art were
manipulated by the Nazi Party. Every message within Arian art was easily read and

34

35
Ibid

36
Ibid

37
Ibid

14

intended to reach a large population. Everything had to be face value in order to spread
Nazi doctrine. Though the propaganda machine was very intricate and sophisticated,
visual artwork needed to be easily understood. They used “name calling” and “stack the
deck” to slander a possible meaning to the paintings. “Card Stacking” is a propaganda
technique used where intentional misinterpretation of information is used to “stack the
deck” against the actual truth.38
Goebbels uses this technique in his “Degenerate” Art
Exhibition. He accompanied the exhibition with a written guide, to explain the artist’s
intentions; only they were false. Instead of using the real context behind images, he
created deceptive yet plausible inferences and used them against a naïve public to support
Nazi Ideology. Many artists like Dix essentially had parallel opinions about prostitution
and their roles in society. It can bee seen in the work exhibited at the degenerate art show
if the viewer is left to his or her subjective intuition.
Modern Art and German Expressionism
Modern art was leaving classical technique, chasing new expressive visions of
how art could be made. Starting in the late 19th century Modern art left the academic
style of painting behind, paving a new path to different forms of expression. Artists no
longer followed guidelines set by the Academy but created their own. Rather than
painting traditional historical paintings, they focused on contemporary scenes. Modern
artists were fascinated with an ever-changing world, seeking to capture it on their
canvases. They began experimenting with application of paint and displaying inner
expression within their work. Contemporary scenes were illustrated including

38
Propaganda Techniques Within Nazi GermanyAuthor(s): Julius YourmanSource: Journal of Educational
Sociology, Vol. 13, No. 3, Education Under Nazism (Nov., 1939), pp. 148-163Published by: American
Sociological Association

15

contemporary women with different social statuses. By painting women such as
prostitutes, artists were commenting on their surroundings. Renaissance paintings praised
the subject on the canvas where as modern paintings turned a mirror onto the viewer,
provoking a response. Modern artists asked the viewer to think about the context of the
image with out focusing on draftsmanship, but rather used the line and brushstroke to
emphasize significance of the subject matter.
Within Germany, Expressionism spread as many artists started commenting on
the cultural issues within their society. Beginning in the early 20th century and rising at
the end of the first Great War, expressionists were living in the militaristic and politically
tumultuous Weimar Germany. German artists began exploring with brushstroke and the
color palette, usually emphasizing movement and bold colors to signify the chaos in
which they lived. While artists like Otto Dix represented Weimar in bold realism, other
such as Emil Nolde escaped it, painting with freedom and expression non- existent in his
daily life
Emil Nolde and Otto Dix
Emil Nolde was a German Danish expressionist and also a member of the Nazi
Party.39
In his Expressionist Nude Scene (see figure 7), he shows four women in nature,
much like the three women in the Reich painting. Both paintings have similar themes,
however, Nolde’s painting would be considered too sensual as the paintings shows
motion, joy and freedom.40
Hitler linked the expressionist form to the primitive savagery

39

Entartete Kunst. Entartete Kunst. Accessed April 24, 2015.
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~mriedlsp/history437/art/Entartete Kunst.htm

40
Ibid

16

of African art. Hitler did not understand how art, which resembled an uncivilized society,
could be admired in Germany. Art that Adolf Hitler approved focused on representational
technique without intrusion of the artist’s inner expression.
Where Emil Nolde’s work was merely considered unsophisticated, Otto Dix’s
work was condemned as sickly and immoral. Dix was considered the epitome of
Degeneracy. He was more than brutally honest in his paintings of Weimar Germany. His
representation of Weimar society didn’t emphasize the beautiful but rather forces a reality
onto the viewer with an astounding frankness. He narrates a separate side of society
including prostitution, disfigured veterans, and the morbid certainty of death in war. His
time in the army contributes significantly to his subject choice. His figures are both
representational and gestural. He captures women with out concerning himself with
making them beautiful, and even puts effort in making them almost ugly.
Otto Dix enlisted into the German army in 1914 at 23.41
He experienced the
horrific experience of war on both fronts during World War 1. In Germany during World
War 1 masculinity was heightened through militarism and the ability to defend Germany
with pride and excitement. His initial attitude towards the war was influenced by his
countries push towards patriotism. He, along with his comrades “didn’t want to miss a
thing,”42
but by the end of the war his opinion changed. He was mentally scarred, like
many others soldiers, and forced to repress his anxieties by a German society that did not
condone male emotion. It is suggested Dix had a form of shell shock, however doctors in

41
Heroes and Whores: The Politics of Gender in Weimar Antiwar Imagery Author(s): Dora
ApelSource: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Sep., 1997), pp. 366-384Published by: College Art
Association

42
Ibid

17

Weimar Germany did not recognize the illness as a war disability.43
They compared it to
a form of hysteria usually associated with women, Jews, and homosexuals.44
He threw his
concerns onto the canvas developing a satirical yet disturbingly honest portrayal of life in
Weimar Germany.
Dix’s thoughts on militarism were shown in his characters, mostly corpses and
mutilated soldiers. He forces the viewer to see the reality in war instead of the patriotic
haze Germany had put its people under. He often pairs the soldiers with prostitutes. He
depicted the prostitute as evil and gluttonous, preying on the insecurities of injured
soldiers.45
In a very similar manner to Nazi Doctrine, he portrayed the prostitute as a
contributing factor to the madness and corruption of Weimar Germany. According to
Dix, her concerns revolved around profits, fooling the soldiers by hiding her disease with
makeup and perfume and seducing them with a sleek smile and revealing clothing.
Dix’s beliefs are portrayed clearly in his Painting Three Wenches, in 1926. He
exaggerates their stereotypical proportions to reinforce negative associations with
prostitute’s bodies. Dix provides the viewer with an array of perversion; a different body
type for every gentleman’s palate. One stands naked, emaciated. She thrusts her genitalia
outwards without any regard to femininity. The other two women fit into his gluttonous
paradigm. The redheaded woman bends over to play with a dog, letting her excess fat
hang with her rear at eye level. They are shameless in their nakedness, and in unflattering
positions. Their moral integrity seems to be non-existent while they lay around waiting
for their next customers. The women’s skin tone is sickly and blotchy with heavily

43 Ibid

44
Ibid

45
Ibid

18

application of make up to hide the ugliness they truly possessed. Alyce Mahon in her
book, Eroticism Art, describes the work as an, assault on the warped values of a
society by exposing in scathing detail the spaces and activities of seedy urban brothels.46
This painting was just one of the many prostitution scenes Dix illustrated. He was
convinced the prostitute was to blame for the degradation of moral integrity within
Weimar Germany. He wanted to enlighten public knowledge on prostitution by
unmasking the foul conditions of brothels and the repellant behavior freely exercised
inside them.
Conclusion
The National Socialist Part vilified the portrayal of women within Modern art
because the composition didn’t physically represent the Arian ideal and the context in
which the women were depicted didn’t conform to the New German moral principles.
Gestural expression was not accepted because it was considered a regression of artistic
talent. Controversial contemporary scenes were not accepted because they were falsely
interpreted as being praised. The women Dix painted on his canvases were social
outcasts, but it is important to reiterate that he wasn’t trying to save them or demand any
kind of respect. He portrayed these in agreement with the Nazi position on prostitution.
However, his beliefs were not supported by the Nazi regime, instead they were
intentionally slandered and he was convicted for praising an ideal he did not believe in.
By commenting on his surroundings through art, Dix started a dialogue, which
encouraged original thought and subjectivity. The individual power artists like Dix

46
Alyce Mahon, Eroticism Art, 2005, Oxford, 334

19

enabled, threatened Adolf Hitler’s authoritarian control. Therefore, the Nazi Party needed
to turn the tables and construct a new context, justifying their attack on Modern art.

28

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Art
of
the
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New
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H.N
Abrams,
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2. Two Speeches about Women - National-Socialism. NationalSocialism.
Accessed April 24, 2015. http://www.national-socialism.com/two-speeches-
women/.

3. Dix, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia Von Harden. Khan Academy. Accessed
April 24, 2015. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/art-between-
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