Beckmann, Max Collection
Max Beckmann is one of the most celebrated and collected German born artists in modern history. At the age of thirty Beckman volunteered as a medical orderly for the German army. His experiences during the war traumatized him and the aesthetic of his work began to change as his views of the world also changed. Typical of work produced during the German Expressionist Movement, Beckmann’s images became graphically infused with emotional energy and marksmanship that typified the chaotic and uncertain social climate of the time. Beckmann himself did not enjoy the title of German Expressionist, or the notions of internal emotionalism such artists of that movement represented. Beckmann more closely identified with the New Objectivity Movement, which was associated with a more business like view of art and society. This somewhat “American” philosophy of art would later be rejected in Weimar Germany under the Nazis, and Beckmann would be labeled a “degenerate” and sought exile in Amsterdam.
Under invitation by former director of the St. Louis Art Museum Perry T. Rathbone, Beckmann came to Missouri and taught at Washington University in St. Louis. Beckmann’s first retrospective in the United States took place at the St. Louis City Art Museum in 1948. The St. Louis Art Museum now has the largest collection of Max Beckmann’s work in the United States and recently renovated its Gallery showcasing Beckmann’s work. The prints in this collection are a small sample of Beckmann’s post war art prints provided by the St. Louis Art Museum.
