Skizze mit vier Figuren (Titled Sketch with Four Figures) [p. 71]
1914/1915
![Skizze mit vier Figuren (Titled Sketch with Four Figures) [p. 71] by Max Beckmann](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/nga/thumb/skizze-mit-vier-figuren-titled-sketch-with-four-nga-65101.webp)
Medium
pen and black ink on lined paper
Dimensions
page size: 15.2 x 9.5 cm (6 x 3 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Max Beckmann
Accession Number
1984.64.50.12
Art Historical Context
Max Beckmann's *Skizze mit vieruren* (Sketch with Four Figures), created around 1914/1915, captures the artist's dynamic draftsmanship in a modest medium: pen and black ink lined notebook paper. Measuring just 15.2 x 9.5 cm, this intimate drawing exemplifies Beckmann's spontaneous approach, likely jotted down amid the upheavals of World War I's early days. The use of everyday lined paper underscores its immediacy, transforming ordinary material into a canvas for four gestural figures that hint at human tension and form. As a leading figure in German Expressionism, Beckmann often explored psyc...
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...