The Businessman Max Roesberg, Dresden

Otto Dix

1922 · Oil on canvas · Modern and Contemporary Art

Dix portrayed his subjects with a hard-edged, detached realism, accentuating unconventional features and signs of age. Since this portrait was a commission, his treatment of Max Roesberg was rather kind, and he highlighted the man’s business prowess—ultimately short-lived—in several ways. The room is cluttered with materials central to a productive professional practice, such as a telephone, a calendar, and tools for correspondence, while the palette of greens and blues alludes to the color of money. Moreover, Roesberg’s body is almost completely obscured by his business suit—a mark of his professional identity.

Artist

Otto Dix

Date

1922

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1992