The following text was written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher in Laguna Woods, California:

Otto Dix was born in December, 1891 in Utermhaus near Gera, in eastern Germany. After working as an apprentice to a decorative house painter in his hometown, he entered Dresden's School of Applied Arts in 1910. His early work was in a colorful expressionist style. He was influenced by exhibitions of paintings by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and Dresden's own "Die Brucke" (The Bridge) painters, a group of artists who produced emotionally expressive works. But the most important influence on Dix's work was that he was a machine gunner in the German Army. His w...