männliche Bildnisstudie (Male Profile) [p. 12]
1944-1949
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite on paper
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Max Beckmann
Accession Number
1984.64.38.2
Art Historical Context
**Max Beckmann's *Männliche Bildnisstudie ( Profile)* (1944–1949)** Created during a tumultuous period in Max Beckmann's life this graphite drawing on paper captures a stark male profile as a preparatory study. Beckmann, a leading German Expressionist painter, these years in exile in Amsterdam after fleeing Nazi persecution, where his art was branded "degenerate." The work dates from the final stages of World War II through his resettlement in the United States in 1947, reflecting the artist's introspective focus amid personal and global upheaval. Donated to the National Gallery of Art by his...
About the Artist
Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (1884-1950) stands as one of the most significant German painters of the twentieth century, a complex artist who bridged Expressionism and the New Objectivity while forging a deeply personal visual language. Born in Leipzig into a middle-class family, Beckmann's artistic journey spanned from academic classicism through the traumatic crucible of World War I to a mature s...