Otto Dix (1891-1969)

Executed in 1923-24, Posten, is a preparatory study for Dix's landmark portfolio of fifty etchings dedicated to the First World War, Der Krieg, and published by the Berlin dealer Karl Nierendorf. Although an etching directly based upon this drawing was not made, Dix used the lower part of its composition - open trenches packed with falling bodies - in plate IX of the set, entitled Zerfallender Kampfgraben. It exists, in private hands, another drawing of the same title, closely related in subject and composition (Lorenz EDV 12.0.2).
During the war, the artist had spent four years fighting as a soldier on the Western front, mainly in Champagne and Flanders. Deeply affected by this experience, it took him several years to tackle the subject of the horrors of war in all its brutality. The portfolio was not an instant commercial success, and it was only later that it became recognized as arguably the most powerful imagery based on the 'Great War'. Often compared to Goya's Los Desastresde la Guerra, Dix's etchings and drawings of that period convey a sharpness and cruelty only a direct witness could express.