The Draftsman in Society (Der Zeichner in Gesellschaft)
1922
Medium
drypoint
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1945.5.37
Art Historical Context
Max Beckmann's *The Draftsman in Society (Der Zeichner in Gesellschaft)*, in 1922, the artist's probing gaze on the human condition during the turbulent Weimar Republic era Germany. As a leading figure in German Expressionism, Beckmann distorted forms and intense symbolism to convey inner turmoil and societal critique, often drawing from his own experiences as a World War I veteran. This drypoint print, part of the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, reflects the post-war disillusionment, where artists grappled with modernity, exile, and the artist's precarious role in a fractured ...
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...