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| Max Beckmann, Self portrait, 1915 |
Beckmann is considered one of the most important German painters of the 20th century. During and after WWI, he completed over three hundred seventy prints. These prints (lithographs and drypoints) were based on his first hand experiences serving on the Russian front and at a hospital in Flanders.
Beckmann was born in Leipzig, Germany on February 12, 1884. He attended the Weimar Academy and studied art in Berlin. In 1914, Beckmann volunteered for the War. After being exposed to the horrors of War for one year, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was discharged from the Army in 1915. Such horrors included experiencing the after effects of a mustard gas attack, observing numerous operations, and constantly encountering dead and maimed soldiers. Beckmann made detailed drawings of his experiences. In "The Small Operation," he drew a soldier who was struggling on the operating table as medical personnel attempted to hold him down. In "The Morgue" Beckmann depicted medical personnel placing those who died from their wounds into coffins.
Max Beckmann, Small Operation, 1915
Max Beckmann, The Morgue, 1915
WWI played a pivotal role in Beckmann’s life and career. It transformed his artistic style and he began to use his art as a vehicle to address the social and political changes that were occurring in Germany after the War. This new style was labeled German Expressionism. By the 1920s, Beckmann had achieved much success and acclaim. He
was a professor at the Stadel School of Art in Frankfurt, and his works were
being exhibited throughout Europe. However, things quickly changed when the
Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. Beckmann was dismissed from his
position at the Stadel and was listed as
a “degenerate” artist. In 1937, Beckmann
and his family fled to Amsterdam where
they remained until 1947. Throughout his
ordeal, Beckmann continued to paint; completing some of his best works while in exile.
In 1947, he was offered a teaching position at Washington
University in St. Louis, Missouri. According to the article "As Max Beckmann Gets a New York Spotlight, St. Louis Shares in the Glow," by Stephen Kinzer published in the August 12, 2003 edition of the New York Times, while in St. Louis, Beckmann “painted masterpieces and
plunged into a dazzling world of Champagne parties and masked balls. Finally he
found the adulation and celebrity that had eluded him for much of his life in Europe
and it thrilled him.” He taught at Washington University for two years and then accepted a position at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York. On December 12, 1950 he died of a heart attack.
The Saint Louis Art Museum has the largest collection in the
world of Beckmann's paintings and also has hundreds of his prints. Many of the paintings are currently on view
in Grigg Gallery which is located on the main level of the Museum.
Sources
Kinzer, Stephen, "As Max Beckmann Gets a New York Spotlight, St. Louis Shares in the Glow," New York Times, August 12, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/arts/as-max-beckmann-gets-a-new-york-spotlight-st-louis-shares-in-the-glow.html
Museum of Modern Art: German Expressionism http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/ge/themes/postwar_politics#
Max Beckmann Biography http://www.beckmann-max.com
Saint Louis Art Museum http://slam.org/reinstallations/beckmann.php
Sources
