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Lot Essay
The Streichholzhändler, based on the painting which is today in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, is a less ambiguous, although by no means less shocking image than the Kriegkrüppel (previous lot). Here, the artist's stance is indeed one of pity, and of accusation. The soldier, maimed and blinded, now trying to survive on selling matches, is forgotten by the healthy and well-off. The crossed frame of the window behind his head marks him as a symbol of human suffering. The compassion of the artist is stressed by the viewpoint, which is close to the helpless soldier's own: we only see the legs and bottoms of those walking past. Yet Dix was not satisfied with a mere depiction of misery and injustice. With his uniquely savage, dark sense of humour, Dix added a grinning dog pissing against the poor soldier's leg stumps, adding insult to the injury.
No one, except perhaps for the English poet Wilfred Owen, reflected in such colloquial terms and with such bitter sarcasm of World War I:
One dies of war like any old disease,
This bandage feels like pennies on my eyes
I have my medal? - Discs to make eyes close
My glorious ribbons? - Ripped from my own back
In scarlet shreds...
No one, except perhaps for the English poet Wilfred Owen, reflected in such colloquial terms and with such bitter sarcasm of World War I:
One dies of war like any old disease,
This bandage feels like pennies on my eyes
I have my medal? - Discs to make eyes close
My glorious ribbons? - Ripped from my own back
In scarlet shreds...