Sheet of Sketches including Triptych, Skyscrapers, and Nude Female Figure
1948
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen with blue and black ink and graphite on paper with printed lines
Dimensions
overall: 20.5 x 25.2 cm (8 1/16 x 9 15/16 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
1985.18.8
Art Historical Context
Max Beckmann's *Sheet of Sketches including Triptych, Skyscrapers, and Nude Figure* (1948) offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of the 20th century's leading Expressionist artists. Created just a year after Beckmann fled Nazi persecution and emigrated to the United States, this intimate drawing captures his transition from European turmoil to American urban life. The sketches blend symbolic triptych compositions—Beckmann's signature format for exploring exile, spirituality, and human struggle—with stark depictions of towering skyscrapers, evoking New York's modernist skyline, and ...
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...