Kreuzabnahme (from the portfolio Gesichter)

Artist Max Beckmann (German, 1884-1950)

Date1918 (published in 1919)

DimensionsSheet: (irregular) H. 18 3/4 in. (47.6 cm): W. 12 7/8 in. (32.7 cm)
Image: H. 12 1/8 in. (30.8 cm): W. 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm)

MediumDrypoint on Japan paper

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Barbara Sunderman Hoerner

Object number

2002.27

Not on View

DescriptionOne drypoint engraving on Japan paper, signed and dated in pencil. One drypoint engraving on Japan paper, signed and dated in pencil.

Label TextMax Beckmann radically transformed his art following his traumatic service as a medical orderly during World War I. He turned “the wild lunacy of this vast slaughter” into a source of lasting inspiration. In this religious subject, executed first in painting, the elongated and emaciated bodies, jagged drypoint lines, twisted perspectives, and severely compressed space – reminiscent of the Gothic art he admired – convey his deepest response to the War, to the shattered bodies he had witnessed, and his merciless pessimism about the human condition.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars, Sept. 5-Dec. 31, 2008.

Toledo Museum of Art, New Works on Paper, Dec. 2005-Mar. 5, 2006.

Toledo Musem of Art, The Great War: Art on the Frontline, Jul. 25-Oct. 19, 2014.

Comparative ReferencesSee also: Erhard Gopel and Barbara Gopel, Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemalde, Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976.

cf.: James Hofmaier, Max Beckmann: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints, Bern: Galerie Kornfeld, 1990: no. 131.

cf.: Karin V. Maur, Max Beckmann: Meisterwerke, 1907-1950, Stuttgart: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1994.

cf.: Klaus Gallwitz, Max Beckmann, Torino: U. Allernandi, 1996.