November 2000
Master-Minded
Max Beckmann and his influences explored at the Alte Pinakothek
Leading expressionist artist Max Beckmann (1884-1950) was one of the many German modernists whose work was condemned by the Nazi regime. Just before the opening of the Nazi-sponsored Degenerate art exhibition in 1937, the artist emigrated to Amsterdam. Beckmann finally found a home in the United States in 1947, where he died just three years later. While the artist never
returned to his homeland, his work can now be found in all major German museums. An exhibition currently at the Alte Pinakothek shows an impressive collection of 21 paintings and two sculptures, which will find their permanent home in the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Promoters claim the show is meant to explore the influence of the Old Masters on Beckmann’s work. While the exhibition catalog does, in fact, provide convincing evidence of this relationship, the exhibition itself does little to explore the interconnections. Instead of hanging Beckmann’s works next to paintings by the Old Masters so as to enable a direct comparison, museum curators sadly chose to display them on their own in two rooms. Paintings by the classical artists form a backdrop barely visible through the connecting doors.
Beckmann’s interest in the Old Masters and in art history started early in his life. At the age of 15, his Christmas wish list included “a large work on the history of painting.” Throughout his life he untiringly visited art museums. In fact, his life
ended while he was on his way to do just that — Beckmann died enroute to New York’s Metropolitan Museum in December 1950. The artist explored the Alte Pinakothek on numerous occasions. In 1912, he wrote to his publisher Reinhard Piper, “These were two lovely days in Munich for me. Particularly the first morning in the Alte Pinakothek. I still can’t get the Tintorettos out of my mind. They are nearly more present than the Rubens.”
Unlike other modern artists, such as Cézanne or Van Gogh, he neither copied works of the Old Masters, nor did he paraphrase them. Their influence was more subtle, to be found in the subjects chosen, composition and painting techniques. The vulnerable quality of his early naked figures, for example, shows the influence of Michelangelo, while Dutch artist Frans Hals’ rapid and pasty application of color can be found in many of Beckmann’s portraits prior to World War I.
Over the years, Beckmann’s art developed significantly, from early Art Nouveau and pointillist work, over angular, agonizing figures, to the bright and colorful paintings of his later years. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the major Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Flemish artists were of primary importance to him. From 1925 onwards, while his admiration for these artists remained, Beckmann detached himself from the Old Masters and developed his own signature style. He was, however, ever aware of the importance of other artists’ influence on his work. In a lecture at a Missouri college in 1948, he listed those artists who were especially important to him: first of all Cézanne, but also Titian, El Greco, Rembrandt, William Blake and others. For him, these artists formed “quite a nice row of friends who can accompany you on the thorny path that is the escape of human passion into the fantasy palaces of art.”
An accompanying exhibition at the Neue Pinakothek opens on November 17. This show will focus on Beckmann’s self-portraits, some 100 prints and drawings by the modern master. The artist stated that the “I” was “the largest and most veiled secret of the world,” an enigma he sought to explore in innumerable works. These included portraits, representations of the artist with his friends and family and works in which Beckmann appeared in a role, such as that of a clown or the mythological hero Odysseus. The exhibition documents his work from 1900 to his death, starting with romantic stylizations and ending with the sophisticated product of his last years. <<<
“Max Beckmann and the Old Masters,”
until fall 2001 at the Alte Pinakothek,
Barerstr. 29, Tues.-Sun. 10-17, Thurs. to 22:00. “Max Beckmann – Self-portraits,” Nov. 17 to Jan. 28, 2001 at the Neue Pinakothek, Barerstr. 29, Wed.- Mon.
10-17, Thurs. to 22:00.
