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Lot Essay
Max Beckmann was only seventeen years old when he made his first printed self-portrait, depicting himself as an isolated, screaming head (Hofmaier 2). His last, showing a man in late middle age wearing a beret, came 62 years later. In the intervening 45 years he returned to his own likeness as a subject no fewer than 35 times, rivalling Rembrandt as possibly the greatest self-portraitist in the history of printmaking. Beckmann employed all three techniques - drypoint, lithography and woodcut - at various times, but it was the powerful immediacy of drypoint, whereby the image is scratched directly into the metal plate, that suited his purposes best.
Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut ('Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat') is arguably his greatest achievement as a printmaker and portraitist. Not unlike Rembrandt, who frequently made sweeping changes to his large drypoints, Beckmann radically revised the plate by adding and burnishing out entire elements of the composition. The result is a dark, heavily worked and powerful image. Superficially Beckmann appears a dandy - urbane and seemingly confident - yet his eyes are full of doubt and unease. As well as a character study, this self-portrait encapsulates the contradictions and uncertainties of the Weimar Republic, the haunting memories, the sense of foreboding, the decadence, defiance and elegance. In the print medium, Beckmann's Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut is one of the most poignant images of the inter-war years, and one of the great self-portraits of the 20th century.
The first and second states exist only in four proof impressions in total, all of which are in public collections. In these trial proofs, Beckmann presents himself inside a garret room, perhaps his studio, with a bright, conical lamp behind him and a cat on his arm. In the present third state, he has burnished out most of the surroundings and placed the cat behind him at left. The blank background still shows many faint remnants of the previous composition, which are eradicated in the fourth, final state. Hofmaier records only five trial proofs of the third state, including the present one from the collection of Beckmann's publisher Reinhard Piper, printed by the artist by hand before the first edition. It is thus the earliest iteration of this print still to be obtainable.
Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut ('Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat') is arguably his greatest achievement as a printmaker and portraitist. Not unlike Rembrandt, who frequently made sweeping changes to his large drypoints, Beckmann radically revised the plate by adding and burnishing out entire elements of the composition. The result is a dark, heavily worked and powerful image. Superficially Beckmann appears a dandy - urbane and seemingly confident - yet his eyes are full of doubt and unease. As well as a character study, this self-portrait encapsulates the contradictions and uncertainties of the Weimar Republic, the haunting memories, the sense of foreboding, the decadence, defiance and elegance. In the print medium, Beckmann's Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut is one of the most poignant images of the inter-war years, and one of the great self-portraits of the 20th century.
The first and second states exist only in four proof impressions in total, all of which are in public collections. In these trial proofs, Beckmann presents himself inside a garret room, perhaps his studio, with a bright, conical lamp behind him and a cat on his arm. In the present third state, he has burnished out most of the surroundings and placed the cat behind him at left. The blank background still shows many faint remnants of the previous composition, which are eradicated in the fourth, final state. Hofmaier records only five trial proofs of the third state, including the present one from the collection of Beckmann's publisher Reinhard Piper, printed by the artist by hand before the first edition. It is thus the earliest iteration of this print still to be obtainable.