0:00:00.069,0:00:10.810 (jazzy music) 0:00:10.810,0:00:13.149 Voiceover: We are looking at Otto Dix's 0:00:13.149,0:00:16.416 painting "Portrait of Sylvia von Harden" 0:00:16.416,0:00:17.974 and it's from 1926. 0:00:17.974,0:00:20.748 Voiceover: Who was Sylvia von Harden? 0:00:20.748,0:00:23.397 Voiceover: Sylvia von[br]Harden was a fantastic, 0:00:23.397,0:00:27.358 fabulous figure who was[br]not actually a journalist 0:00:27.358,0:00:29.502 even though the title says[br]that she's a journalist. 0:00:29.502,0:00:31.627 She was less of a journalist but actually 0:00:31.627,0:00:35.693 a poet and a short story[br]writer who worked in Germany. 0:00:35.693,0:00:38.911 This shows her in the Romanisches Cafe 0:00:38.911,0:00:42.103 in Berlin, which was huge hangout for all 0:00:42.103,0:00:43.869 of the cool avant-garde artists 0:00:43.869,0:00:46.153 and writers and poets of the 1920s. 0:00:46.153,0:00:48.366 Sylvia von Harden is pictured here in this 0:00:48.366,0:00:49.818 little corner where[br]she would have hung out 0:00:49.818,0:00:51.325 at a little cafe table. 0:00:51.325,0:00:53.969 She was an avant-garde neue frau. 0:00:53.969,0:00:57.405 She was friendly with various artists 0:00:57.405,0:00:59.033 and poets and writers of the era. 0:00:59.033,0:01:01.801 Voiceover: So neue frau is[br]the new woman in Germany 0:01:01.801,0:01:03.564 in the early 20th century. 0:01:03.564,0:01:06.533 We're in between the Great[br]War and World War II here. 0:01:06.533,0:01:09.070 The new woman, is that the woman in 0:01:09.070,0:01:11.772 the public sphere who goes out and works? 0:01:11.772,0:01:13.944 She has close-cropped hair, I see, 0:01:13.944,0:01:15.907 which makes her rather androgynous. 0:01:15.907,0:01:17.296 Her hands are very large. 0:01:17.296,0:01:20.414 Do these things have[br]to do with representing 0:01:20.414,0:01:22.253 the new woman in a work of art, perhaps? 0:01:22.253,0:01:22.860 Voiceover: It does. 0:01:22.860,0:01:25.718 It has to do with the[br]new woman in general, 0:01:25.718,0:01:29.413 but it also has to do with Otto[br]Dix's style of portraiture. 0:01:29.413,0:01:31.827 One thing that Otto Dix was famed for 0:01:31.827,0:01:34.078 was making his sitters quite ugly 0:01:34.078,0:01:35.415 and quite unattractive. 0:01:35.415,0:01:38.411 Sylvia von Harden does[br]look like this in real life 0:01:38.411,0:01:42.997 but not to quite the[br]extent that Dix shows her. 0:01:42.997,0:01:44.910 Things like her hair; 0:01:44.910,0:01:46.529 she did have a close-cropped haircut. 0:01:46.529,0:01:48.191 In Germany this cut had a very funny 0:01:48.191,0:01:49.849 specific name, called the Bubikopf, 0:01:49.849,0:01:52.580 which was in style all[br]throughout the '20s. 0:01:52.580,0:01:55.358 She did have a sort of[br]androgynous appearance. 0:01:55.358,0:01:58.370 This dress is based on a[br]dress that she actually wore. 0:01:58.370,0:02:02.137 It does have a lot of basis in reality. 0:02:02.137,0:02:04.432 But things like her hands, he elongates 0:02:04.432,0:02:07.018 and sort of creates these immense hands. 0:02:07.018,0:02:09.784 I think that has a lot[br]to do with deflection 0:02:09.784,0:02:12.987 and placement as it draws[br]your attention to things like 0:02:12.987,0:02:15.295 the area where her breasts should be, 0:02:15.295,0:02:17.104 which, because she's such[br]an androgynous figure, 0:02:17.104,0:02:18.715 she doesn't really have any. 0:02:18.715,0:02:21.550 She's wearing this very[br]geometric patterned dress 0:02:21.550,0:02:26.047 that hides any kind of feminine[br]figure that she might have. 0:02:26.047,0:02:27.303 She's covered up. 0:02:27.303,0:02:28.676 It even has a turtleneck so we don't 0:02:28.676,0:02:30.426 even get to see her neck. 0:02:30.426,0:02:32.368 Then you see the other hand kind of 0:02:32.368,0:02:34.421 draped across her lap, covering it up. 0:02:34.421,0:02:35.991 There are other elements that you 0:02:35.991,0:02:37.790 might be able to see that[br]signal different things. 0:02:37.790,0:02:39.295 Voiceover: In the body? 0:02:39.295,0:02:41.906 Voiceover: If you look[br]actually at this great detail. 0:02:41.906,0:02:44.964 The sagging stocking you can kind of see. 0:02:44.964,0:02:46.749 That's a really great moment of realism 0:02:46.749,0:02:47.689 that Dix captures. 0:02:47.689,0:02:49.515 You don't want to have your stockings 0:02:49.515,0:02:50.797 be shown as sagging. 0:02:50.797,0:02:53.121 It sort of implies a kind of messiness. 0:02:53.121,0:02:56.621 She doesn't seem to have a[br]very polished air about her. 0:02:56.621,0:02:58.120 On the other hand, it kind of gives her 0:02:58.120,0:03:00.273 this sort of subversive quality. 0:03:00.273,0:03:02.794 She's sitting there and she's looking out. 0:03:02.794,0:03:04.173 She has a monocle even. 0:03:04.173,0:03:06.405 She has these particular features, 0:03:06.405,0:03:08.425 all these little accessories that pinpoint 0:03:08.425,0:03:10.191 her as a particular kind of woman; 0:03:10.191,0:03:11.688 the sagging stocking, the large hands, 0:03:11.688,0:03:14.956 the monocle which[br]highlights the kind of sight 0:03:14.956,0:03:17.366 and gaze that a new woman might have. 0:03:17.366,0:03:18.999 Then she has cigarettes. 0:03:18.999,0:03:20.544 She's smoking in a public place. 0:03:20.544,0:03:22.545 That's all kind of building a particular 0:03:22.545,0:03:24.791 sort of identity for this character, 0:03:24.791,0:03:27.291 and Dix was really talented[br]at doing that in his painting. 0:03:27.291,0:03:28.920 Voiceover: The patterned[br]dress seems to really 0:03:28.920,0:03:32.954 emphasize a sense of surface and flatness 0:03:32.954,0:03:34.826 instead of her body. 0:03:34.826,0:03:38.626 Her neck seems very cylindrical and almost 0:03:38.626,0:03:43.987 mechanical rather than a[br]human organic form as well. 0:03:43.987,0:03:45.656 Voiceover: I think one[br]of the things that I like 0:03:45.656,0:03:47.293 about this painting,[br]too, is the way that Dix 0:03:47.293,0:03:50.876 uses these kind of[br]geometric areas and shapes 0:03:50.876,0:03:53.897 and throws it into contrast[br]with, if you see behind her, 0:03:53.897,0:03:56.377 she's sitting on this really[br]ornately patterned chair. 0:03:56.377,0:03:58.898 Those kind of curves are more feminine 0:03:58.898,0:04:00.906 than her body is, which I think is a great 0:04:00.906,0:04:02.707 kind of a comment to make. 0:04:02.707,0:04:04.835 Then there's the circle of her monocle; 0:04:04.835,0:04:06.976 there's the circle of the marble table; 0:04:06.976,0:04:09.430 the circle of the glass, which has a very 0:04:09.430,0:04:11.076 particular kind of cocktail in it 0:04:11.076,0:04:12.264 that was popular at the time. 0:04:12.264,0:04:13.927 So those things, and then things that are 0:04:13.927,0:04:16.142 longer and flatter, like[br]her body, which really 0:04:16.142,0:04:20.355 should be the least[br]flat if you're thinking 0:04:20.355,0:04:21.695 about what bodies look like. 0:04:21.695,0:04:23.754 Are bodies round and sort of curvaceous 0:04:23.754,0:04:26.627 and sensual things or[br]are they desexualized, 0:04:26.627,0:04:30.343 androgynized forms which Dix does here? 0:04:30.343,0:04:32.325 Voiceover: We should[br]probably contextualize 0:04:32.325,0:04:34.869 this in terms of the new objectivity, 0:04:34.869,0:04:36.859 or neue Sachlichkeit. 0:04:36.859,0:04:37.754 Voiceover: Yeah, Sachlichkeit. 0:04:37.754,0:04:40.252 Voiceover: Which was[br]occurring at this time, 0:04:40.252,0:04:44.010 a movement in between[br]the wars, which went back 0:04:44.010,0:04:48.287 to a bit more of a figural[br]style, a bit more naturalism; 0:04:48.287,0:04:50.634 relatively more naturalistic[br]than what one might 0:04:50.634,0:04:52.992 be familiar with in terms of Kirchner 0:04:52.992,0:04:56.958 or German expressionism[br]or Kandinsky of course; 0:04:56.958,0:04:59.142 other artists who were working[br]in Germany at the time. 0:04:59.142,0:05:01.625 Why going back to this style, which is 0:05:01.625,0:05:04.215 a bit more naturalistic? 0:05:04.215,0:05:06.387 Voiceover: I think that the realism is, 0:05:06.387,0:05:09.307 there are many things that[br]are important about it 0:05:09.307,0:05:11.332 at this time, but this is 1926. 0:05:11.332,0:05:13.887 There's this sort of[br]general sense in Germany, 0:05:13.887,0:05:16.101 this is going on in other[br]countries in Europe as well, 0:05:16.101,0:05:19.717 kind of a return to order; kind[br]of looking back at tradition, 0:05:19.717,0:05:21.497 a kind of sense that they wanted to create 0:05:21.497,0:05:22.943 something new, but they wanted it to have 0:05:22.943,0:05:25.271 a particular kind of[br]meaning and a rootedness 0:05:25.271,0:05:27.224 in something that was very German. 0:05:27.224,0:05:29.466 So Otto Dix is really[br]looking back to traditions 0:05:29.466,0:05:31.371 of portraiture in Germany. 0:05:31.371,0:05:33.192 He looks back to Holbein who creates 0:05:33.192,0:05:35.708 incredibly important portraits 0:05:35.708,0:05:39.529 and sort of bringing[br]out that German quality. 0:05:39.529,0:05:41.696 Voiceover: Holbein's[br]hyper-naturalistic, isn't he? 0:05:41.696,0:05:42.917 Voiceover: Yes, he is hyper-naturalistic. 0:05:42.917,0:05:45.199 What he does is he takes naturalism 0:05:45.199,0:05:47.497 and realism and he sort of[br]lifts it to another level 0:05:47.497,0:05:49.130 where it almost is caricature. 0:05:49.130,0:05:50.966 So it kind of falls between that. 0:05:50.966,0:05:52.871 A lot of neue Sachlichkeit[br]painters did that; 0:05:52.871,0:05:55.582 a kind of photographic realism, almost, 0:05:55.582,0:05:58.137 but also taken to an extreme. 0:05:58.137,0:05:59.799 Voiceover: That's interesting that it's 0:05:59.799,0:06:02.198 characterized as a kind of call to order 0:06:02.198,0:06:04.258 or a return to order, while we're 0:06:04.258,0:06:07.249 representing someone who is apparently 0:06:07.249,0:06:10.696 overturning some very longstanding gender 0:06:10.696,0:06:12.992 hierarchies and ordered ways of thinking 0:06:12.992,0:06:15.915 about men and women as very separate. 0:06:15.915,0:06:18.141 The new woman, particularly[br]as it's embodied 0:06:18.141,0:06:20.957 here by Sylvia, seems to be confounding 0:06:20.957,0:06:23.285 those categories rather than reveling 0:06:23.285,0:06:25.423 in how neat and ordered they are. 0:06:25.423,0:06:26.619 Voiceover: She's definitely about 0:06:26.619,0:06:28.119 overturning things. 0:06:28.119,0:06:31.023 Even her name is actually made up. 0:06:31.023,0:06:32.121 It's a pseudonym. 0:06:32.121,0:06:34.542 She changed her name when she[br]started her writing career. 0:06:34.542,0:06:37.707 She's not a huge, very popular writer, 0:06:37.707,0:06:39.792 but she's one of many poets and writers 0:06:39.792,0:06:41.667 who are working on different pieces 0:06:41.667,0:06:43.542 that are published in small journals 0:06:43.542,0:06:46.878 that very small audiences have read. 0:06:46.878,0:06:49.876 She's definitely[br]overturning different kinds 0:06:49.876,0:06:52.431 of cultural stereotypes[br]and gender stereotypes, 0:06:52.431,0:06:55.320 and kind of in that space of subversion 0:06:55.320,0:06:57.731 in the cafe culture of[br]Germany at the time. 0:06:57.731,0:06:59.455 Voiceover: What did Dix's sitters think 0:06:59.455,0:07:01.505 about the fact that he[br]liked to make people ugly? 0:07:01.505,0:07:03.207 Did that bother them? 0:07:03.207,0:07:04.376 Voiceover: Sometimes it did. 0:07:04.376,0:07:06.628 A lot of times it was[br]almost like a privilege 0:07:06.628,0:07:08.792 to be painted by Dix and portrayed 0:07:08.792,0:07:11.542 in this particularly ugly kind of way. 0:07:11.542,0:07:16.640 One or two sitters did[br]have a problem with it. 0:07:16.640,0:07:18.838 He was commissioned by sitters 0:07:18.838,0:07:20.215 because he was so well known, 0:07:20.215,0:07:23.049 and at this point, in[br]'26, he's very well known 0:07:23.049,0:07:24.194 for his painting style. 0:07:24.194,0:07:26.763 Earlier than that, some[br]of his more wealthy 0:07:26.763,0:07:29.967 business clients did not particularly like 0:07:29.967,0:07:31.830 the way that they were painted. 0:07:31.830,0:07:33.636 Sylvia von Harden, as far as I know, 0:07:33.636,0:07:36.859 loved the way that this painting worked. 0:07:36.859,0:07:38.049 She even sat with it. 0:07:38.049,0:07:39.530 It's at the Pompidou Center now. 0:07:39.530,0:07:42.929 In the '60s she even[br]sat and had a photograph 0:07:42.929,0:07:44.359 taken of herself in front of the portrait. 0:07:44.359,0:07:46.382 You can see even at that[br]point that she still 0:07:46.382,0:07:48.924 sort of looks a little[br]bit like the figure in it. 0:07:48.924,0:07:51.008 I just think it's a great portrait. 0:07:51.008,0:07:51.881 Voiceover: Me too. 0:07:51.881,0:07:55.881 (jazzy music)