Max Beckmann

Max Beckmann, (b. February 12, 1884 in Leipzig, Germany, d. December 28, 1950 in New York City), was a German painter, draftsman, graphic artist, sculptor, writer and thinker.

Beckmann today

In recent years, Max Beckmann's work has gained greater international reputation than ever. Retrospectives and exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (1995) and the Guggenheim Museum (1996) in New York, and the principal museums of Rome (1996), Valencia (1996), Madrid (1997), Zurich (1998), St Louis (1998/1999) and Munich (2000) have welcomed hundreds of thousands of spectators. In Spain and Italy, Beckmann's work has been accessible to a wider public for the first time. In 2001, a large-scale Beckmann retrospective took place at Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Related Topics:
Museum of Modern Art - 1995 - Guggenheim Museum - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - Centre Pompidou

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In 1996, Piper, Beckmann's German publisher, released the third and last volume of the artist?s letters. His lively and genuine style ranks him among the strongest writers of the German tongue. Also Beckmann's essays, plays and above all his diaries have been recognized as unique historical documents. Beckmann's writings are creations in their own right, and full of wit, vision and poetry.

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In addition, many scholarly publications, both in Germany and the US, have confirmed the significance of Max Beckmann as one of the masters of modern art. However, nearly all of these publications are either scholarly essays, dissertations or illustrated folios. A selection of Beckmann's writings, issued in the US in 1996, has shown the increasing popularity of the artist in America. Unfortunately, the translation is full of mistakes. The English edition of Hans Belting's brief thesis on Beckmann and modernism may be the most interesting publication on Beckmann in America.

Related Topics:
1996 - Hans Belting - Modernism

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In 2001, Stephan Reimertz, novelist and art historian from Paris, put out the first biography of Max Beckmann; it is the life story of one of the great artists and of a century, a chronicle of fifty years of western civilization and a panorama of modern art. The style of the book is as sober and clear, as bright and colorful as Beckmann's paintings. It shows the intellectual and artistic development of an unparalleled spirit and presents many photos and sources in for the first time. The work can be read as a narrative or used as a general reference source. It has been labeled a standard guide like John Richardson's »Picasso«.

Related Topics:
Biography - John Richardson

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The book discusses the chief topics of modern art; e.g. non-representational painting vs. abstraction, abstraction vs. figurative art, etc. It focuses on the crucial movements in art and in art theory, and it also portrays many of Beckmann's contemporaries, such as Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Georges Rouault, Gottfried Benn a.m.o. Beckmann was a devoted reader and writer, and so the biography reveals his contemplations on writers and philosophers like Dostoyevsky, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Richard Wagner. How did his reading and thinking influence his art? As a painter, Beckmann often referred to the old masters, so the author takes a glance at his relationship with artists like Rembrandt, Rubens, Manet and Cézanne. Finally, the biography examines Beckmann?s influence on artists in America and Europe. The book reveals Beckmann not only as a great artist, but also as a original thinker, a talented writer, a truthful witness of the century and last but not least as an decent human being. Unfortunately, this major work of modern art history has not yet been translated into English.

Related Topics:
Non-representational painting - Abstraction - Figurative art - Max Liebermann - Otto Dix - Paul Klee - Georges Rouault - Gottfried Benn - Dostoyevsky - Schopenhauer - Nietzsche - Richard Wagner - Rembrandt - Rubens - Manet - Cézanne

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