Biography and the educative: a critical examination of the life and artwork of Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix

Abstract

Often modern institutionalised notions of the educative connect less to education as a means through which individuals and society can improve, but more with education as the conduit by which to achieve a particular career. Both these notions are of equal importance because of the dynamics in which modern day education exists. Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (1891–1969) was an individual who learnt much through his life, but in a continuous democratizing effort he also shared his experiences with those that surrounded him. In this study I will explore the educational influences in the life and artwork of this artist and the formation of his self from a broader notion of the educative. This is achieved through the combination of Bildung (a German concept that concentrates on self-formation, education and cultivation), traditional biographical and art historical analysis, and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus. The result, as exemplified by the artists life is to show that Otto Dix was in a state of Bildung and thus his self was constantly forming and reforming. The study brings together, for the first time, notions of Dix’s bildung and self-­regard.

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