Birdplay

Max BeckmannWW-1949-130885

1949·Pen and black ink, with scraping, over charcoal, on cream laid paper·45.2 × 60.2 cm (17 13/16 × 23 3/4 in.)

<p>Pushed out of Germany in the late 1930s because of his “degenerate” art, Beckmann immigrated to America in 1947. During the summer of 1949 he briefly taught art classes at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and <em>Birdplay</em> was one of about 13 drawings he completed during that period. This major work reflects the artist’s lifelong interest in birds and classical literature.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1949
Medium: Pen and black ink, with scraping, over charcoal, on cream laid paper
Dimensions: 45.2 × 60.2 cm (17 13/16 × 23 3/4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Max Beckmann

Artist

Max Beckmann

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.

New York, NY, USA

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