The Ideologues, plate six from Die Hölle
<p>This circle of intellectual leaders (with the artist himself as the shadowy figure in the center with his hand over his mouth) does not inspire confidence, given the relative visual chaos of line and composition. Max Beckmann here caricatured Max Hermann-Neiße, Annette Kolb, and Heinrich Mann, among others. In this cycle, he implicated all possible groups in Weimar society, while he himself took on various roles, sometimes as a participant and sometimes as an observer. His shifting position contrasts with Otto Dix’s more consistent attitude in his self-portrayals as a soldier in key segments of <em>War</em>.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1919
- Dimensions
- Image: 71 × 50 cm (28 × 19 11/16 in.); Sheet: 87 × 61.3 cm (34 5/16 × 24 3/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Max Beckmann
Artist
Painting
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s, he was associated with the New Objectivity, an outgrowth of Expressionism that opposed its introverted emotionalism. Even when dealing with light subject matter like circus performers, Beckmann often had an undercurrent of moodiness or unease in his works. By the 1930s, his work became more explicit in its horrifying imagery and distorted forms with combination of brutal realism and social criticism, coinciding with the rise of Nazism in Germany.
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More by Max Beckmann
Birdplay
1949 · Pen and black ink, with scraping, over charcoal, on cream laid paper
Women Fishing
1949 · Pastel and charcoal with stumping on cream wove paper
Composition (Komposition) from the illustrated book Max Beckmann
1948 · Lithograph
Woman with Fish (Frau mit Fisch) from the illustrated book Max Beckmann
1948 · Lithograph
1. Woman with Fish (Frau mit Fisch) 2. Composition (Komposition) from the illustrated book Max Beckmann
1948 · Two lithographs
Circus, plate 12 from Day and Dream
1946 · Lithograph on cream wove paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Max Beckmann
- Year
- 1919
- Dimensions
- Image: 71 × 50 cm (28 × 19 11/16 in.); Sheet: 87 × 61.3 cm (34 5/16 × 24 3/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1919-085391
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified