The Journalist

Otto Dix

Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden
1926 · Oil and tempera on wood

The woman before you is Sylvia von Harden, a journalist and poet living in the cultural world of 1920s Berlin. With her cropped hair, monocle, cigarette and cocktail, she embodied the emerging "New Woman"—independent, intellectual, urban, and increasingly free from traditional expectations of femininity.

Otto Dix was fascinated by her. Von Harden later recalled that when he encountered her, he told her she represented "an entire epoch." Rather than idealizing his sitter, Dix emphasized her angular face, enormous hands, awkward posture and unconventional appearance. His interest was less in conventional beauty than in capturing the psychology and social change of the age.

The painting is an important example of Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity, a movement known for its unsentimental, sometimes satirical observation of German society between the World Wars. Today the portrait belongs to the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Now Look Again

Knowing who she is, return to the image.

Does her posture now feel different?

What do the monocle, cigarette, cocktail, clothing and enormous expressive hands tell you about her?

Does she seem confident? Defiant? Bored? Vulnerable? Performing a role?

And notice the intense pink-red world Dix has placed around her. How does the color affect the way you experience her?

What did you see in Sylvia before you knew anything about her?