Abend in Der Wijtschaete-ebene [Evening on the Wijtschaete Plain]

This print is plate 27 from Otto Dix's monumental portfolio 'Der Krieg (The War)'. This portfolio comprising 51 etchings is an enduring visual record of the real and human consequences of modern warfare executed by one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. The etchings were printed by Kupferdruckerei O. Felsing in Charlottenburg on BSB Maschinen Butten and Kupferdruck paper under Dix’s supervision. The portfolio was published by Karl Nierendorf, Berlin, as five separate folios each of 10 prints in an edition of 70 in 1924. Der Krieg is consciously based on Francisco Goya’s equally famous and devastating Los Desastres de la Guerra (The disasters of war) that chronicles Goya’s own account of the horrors of the Napoleonic invasion and the Spanish War of Independence from 1808 to 1814.The visual legacy of Der Krieg is still relevant to contemporary audiences as one of the most powerful responses to the aftermath of the First World War and the ensuing periods of social, cultural and political upheaval. This work depicts an evening on the Wijtschaete Plain, focussing on the devastating aftermath of the battle of Messines. An entanglement of bodies lay strewn and twisted across the battlefield which is historically significant for the Australian Imperial Force as it was the first time the 3rd Division saw service on the Western Front.