Further Explorations of Martha Dix’s Hair

OK, it was probably a mistake even to try this, but as Martha Dix’s hair continued to intrigue me, I wasn’t ready to leave well enough alone. Egon Schiele’s Mountain Torrent (1918) sets the stage for the collage at the head of this post, with Martha Dix’s hair rendered twice from John Perceval’s Ocean Beach, Sorrento (1957) and once more from van Gogh’s A Crab on its Back (1887) to round out the set of three.

The Avant-Gardist Haircut of Martha Dix

Quite by accident, as is usually the case, I ran across a portrait Otto Dix painted of “Mrs. Martha Dix (1928).” Above you’ll see the two of them, as photographed by August Sander. The haircut in this magnificent photograph is, however, but a pale reflection of Otto Dix’s representation of his wife’s hair.