Anne Wenzel – Otto Dix is on view at Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris
May 17 – June 21, 2025
This exhibition presents extensive works by Anne Wenzel, spawning from 2010 to 2023, in dialogue with drawings and etchings by Otto Dix. Although a generation separates them, both of them have used their art to engage with the dramatic consequences of the war on the body and the mind.
Out of a strong historical awareness and political engagement, Anne Wenzel sheds new light on the role that art plays in the representation of power, heroism and violence. With their robust appearance, her sculptures seem built to withstand the test of time, but their ceramic material and derelict aspect express vulnerability and failure.
Her work is inspired, among other things, by the history of Europe, particularly the social impact of war and destruction. Wenzel draws her inspiration from art-historical tradition but also from topical news images of violence and destruction, finding interesting correlations that span the ages, between the individual and the powers that be, between beauty and violence. The series Damaged Goods and Silent Landscape in particular depict the catastrophic impact of war on human beings.
They bear striking similarities with the etchings and drawings by Otto Dix. Few artists of the twentieth century have dealt with the experience of war as directly, somberly and impressively in their works as Otto Dix (1891-1969). At the beginning of the First World War, Dix volunteered for military service: he fought on the front line as a machine-gunner for more than three years. These experiences had a decisive influence on his life and work. He made many sketches and drawings at the front. After the war, Dix worked on pictures of war cripples as well as on his comprehensive graphic cycle Der Krieg, which was published in 1924.
In these deeply moving and intense works, Dix does not spare the viewer from the nightmarish visions he himself witnessed. The directness and truth of his work aimed to serve as a warning for future generations.
Anne Wenzel is currently exhibited in Carrément Bizarre: Collection Jean Chatelus at Centre Pompidou, in The stories we tell at Depot Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and Alive & Unfolding at le Delta Namur.
Contact
info@suzanne-tarasieve.com
Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve
7, rue Pastourelle
F-75003 Paris
France
Images © ADAGP, Paris. Photos by Rebecca Fanuele
