Reclining Female
1947
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and blue ink with watercolor over graphite on graph paper with blue lines
Dimensions
overall: 14.7 x 21 cm (5 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Given in memory of Frederick Zimmermann by his wife, Dorothy Zimmermann
Accession Number
1985.18.25
Art Historical Context
Max Beckmann's *Reclining Female*1947) captures the artist's distinctive Expressionist style during a pivotal moment in his life. A German painter and printmaker who fled Nazi, Beckmann arrived in the United States that year after years in Amsterdam exile. This intimate drawing reflects his post-war introspection, a reclining nude rendered with angular, distorted forms that convey psychological depth and emotional intensity—hallmarks of his work blending Expressionism with elements of New Objectivity. on graph paper with blue lines, the piece measures just 14.7 x 21 cm, suggesting a spontane...
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...