Max Beckmann
Recumbent woman
Artist
Max Beckmann
Ausstellung
Große Kunst-Ausstellung, Städtischer Ausstellungspalast, Düsseldorf 1913, cat. no. 39 ;
Autumn exhibition (of those who had left the Berlin Secession), Ausstellungshaus am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin 1913, cat. no. 16 ;
1st exhibition, Künstler-Vereinigung Dresden, 1916, cat. no. 13 ;
From Kandinsky to Dix. Paintings of the German Expressionists, Nassau Museum of Art, Roslyn et al. 1989, cat. no. 1, p. 32, col. illus. p. 33.
Autumn exhibition (of those who had left the Berlin Secession), Ausstellungshaus am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin 1913, cat. no. 16 ;
1st exhibition, Künstler-Vereinigung Dresden, 1916, cat. no. 13 ;
From Kandinsky to Dix. Paintings of the German Expressionists, Nassau Museum of Art, Roslyn et al. 1989, cat. no. 1, p. 32, col. illus. p. 33.
Provenance
Studio Max Beckmann;
Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1913 on commission; Atelier Max Beckmann, 1920;
Private collection, Berlin;
Gerd Rosen Gallery, Berlin, 1954;
Walter Stein, USA, 1954;
Ketterer Kunst, Munich 28.11.1988, lot 74, with color plate; Serge Sabarsky Collection/Asset, New York, since 1988; Vally Sabarsky Collection/Foundation, New York.
Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1913 on commission; Atelier Max Beckmann, 1920;
Private collection, Berlin;
Gerd Rosen Gallery, Berlin, 1954;
Walter Stein, USA, 1954;
Ketterer Kunst, Munich 28.11.1988, lot 74, with color plate; Serge Sabarsky Collection/Asset, New York, since 1988; Vally Sabarsky Collection/Foundation, New York.
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Description
- Early work from Beckmann's Berlin period
- Back view of a half-dressed woman in an academic painting style
- Atmospheric color composition with dense application
In 1913, a woman sits reclined on a canapé and sinks exhausted into the cushions. She has turned her back on the viewer and the painter Max Beckmann. Dressed in a bodice, petticoat and headdress, she seems frozen in action. She is not naked, but she is no longer fully clothed either; the composition of her clothing and her state of dress do not represent a consciously fashionable composition. It almost seems as if the painter spontaneously surprised her while she was undressing.
Beckmann captures the anonymous woman in a seemingly spontaneous moment: The skirt slips, the bare back almost brazenly and accordingly erotically in focus. This anonymity in an intimate situation makes the picture so appealing. Although we don't know who the woman is, we are given an insight into one of the most private moments of her day. Where was she, who has not yet taken off her earring, but has already taken off her overskirt? The picture invites you to tell yourself a story ...
The painting was created in Berlin in 1913. Max Beckmann was 29 years old and still painting in accordance with academic tradition. He would depict reclining women, unknown and identifiable, again and again in the course of his work. They look out of the pictures, are busy, represent, flirt. They appear as typical Beckmann women, as nudes, in clothing. But never again will Beckmann disturb a woman undressing, as he did in 1913.
Göpel/Tiedemann MB-G 168.
- Back view of a half-dressed woman in an academic painting style
- Atmospheric color composition with dense application
In 1913, a woman sits reclined on a canapé and sinks exhausted into the cushions. She has turned her back on the viewer and the painter Max Beckmann. Dressed in a bodice, petticoat and headdress, she seems frozen in action. She is not naked, but she is no longer fully clothed either; the composition of her clothing and her state of dress do not represent a consciously fashionable composition. It almost seems as if the painter spontaneously surprised her while she was undressing.
Beckmann captures the anonymous woman in a seemingly spontaneous moment: The skirt slips, the bare back almost brazenly and accordingly erotically in focus. This anonymity in an intimate situation makes the picture so appealing. Although we don't know who the woman is, we are given an insight into one of the most private moments of her day. Where was she, who has not yet taken off her earring, but has already taken off her overskirt? The picture invites you to tell yourself a story ...
The painting was created in Berlin in 1913. Max Beckmann was 29 years old and still painting in accordance with academic tradition. He would depict reclining women, unknown and identifiable, again and again in the course of his work. They look out of the pictures, are busy, represent, flirt. They appear as typical Beckmann women, as nudes, in clothing. But never again will Beckmann disturb a woman undressing, as he did in 1913.
Göpel/Tiedemann MB-G 168.