Early Evidence of Low-Tech Communication in an Otto Dix Painting of 1920

Abstract

This paper presents and analyzes a finding that gives evidence of the use of a low-tech communication device long before the formal establishment of the field of augmentative and alternative communication. The device, a simple low-tech alphabet board, is portrayed in a 1920 painting of World War I veterans by German Expressionist Otto Dix. Entitled “War Cripples,” the painting shows one of the veterans, who sustained severe disfigurement and jaw mutilation resulting in speech loss, pointing to a letter on a chart pinned to his uniform. The analysis of the painting utilized Aby Warburg's methodology for researching the significance of images within the cultural context in which they are produced.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Acquired communication disorders
• Alphabet device
• War injuries
• Facial disfigurement
• German Expressionism

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

1 The finger pointing to the alphabet card was identified while viewing a large, two-page, black and white reproduction of War Cripples in Karcher (1988).

2 For historical information on George Dalgarno's invention of the finger alphabet, or dactylology, see Dalgarno's 1680 recently republished text on universal language (Cram & Maat, 2001) and Rée's in depth historical discussion of gestural alternatives to speech (Rée, 2000).

3 To view the print version of Dix's “The Cripples,” visit the Art Resource site at http://www.artres.com

4 According to Canaday (1959), Dadaism was a post World War I movement of artists who produced nihilistic art as a response to the sordidness and despair they observed in the real world. Their rationale was that, since order and meaning were no longer to be found in post-war chaos, then it was pointless to build aesthetics based on reason. Absurd and irreverent solutions spilled over into a broad range of materials, collage, and construction techniques and random choice of subject content. In its taste for the bizarre and approach to the irrational, Dadaism was significant to the emergence of Surrealism.

5 See Weinstein (1990) on the German Expressionist movement, post-World War I.