Quappi and Cowboy
1949
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and black ink over graphite
Dimensions
overall: 60 x 45.2 cm (23 5/8 x 17 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Max Beckmann
Accession Number
1984.64.2
Art Historical Context
**Quappi and Cowboy** (1949) is a tender drawing by Max Beckmann, renowned German Expressionist painter who spent his final years in exile in the United States after fleeing Nazi persecution. Created just a year before his death, intimate work captures Beckmann's wife, Mathilde "Quappi" Beckmann—a frequent muse—and their beloved dog, Cowboy. offers a rare personal glimpse into the artist's life amid post-World War II resettlement in America, where he taught and painted prolifically in New York. Executed in pen and black ink over graphite on paper (60 x 45.2 cm), the piece showcases Beckmann's...
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...