1924

Storm Troops Advancing under Gas

German, 1891 - 1969

Based on his observations as a German soldier during World War I, Dix made a portfolio of fifty etchings recounting elements of modern warfare like trench combat, poison gas, and air bombing. His distortions, such as the flattened gas-masked faces of the storm troops and the disjunctive perspectives between the medics and the overhead view of the dead gas victims, expressively capture the unreal horrors of war. Dix exploited the corrosive properties of etching, combining rough line work with multiple layers of aquatint to emphasize the violence and decay that accompany war.