MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
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MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)

Bei der Operation

Details
MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Bei der Operation
signed, dated and inscribed Bei der Operation Beckmann 9.9.14 (lower right)
gouache and brush and wash and pen and India ink on coloured paper
26,1 x 21 cm. (10 ¼ x 8 ¼ in.)
Executed on 9 September 1914
Provenance
Reinhard Piper (1879-1953), Munich; acquired directly from the artist; then by descent; Karl & Faber, Munich, 29 June 1981, lot 81.
Hans Pels-Leusden, Berlin; acquired at the above sale; then by descent.
Graphisches Kabinett Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Bremen; acquired from the above in 1999.
Acquired from the above in 2000; then by descent to the present owners.
Literature
M. Beckmann-Tube, 'Feldpostbriefe aus Ostpreussen, mit zehn Zeichnungen, von Max Beckmann, zusammengestellt von Frau Beckmann-Tube', in: Kunst & Künstler, vol. 13, Berlin, 1915, p. 131 (ill.).
S. von Wiese, Max Beckmanns zeichnerisches Werk 1903-1925, Düsseldorf, 1978, no. 185, pp. 158-159 (ill. fig. 145) & 199 (with incorrect medium).
H. Kinkel, 'Großer Auftritt für Beckmann', in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt, 11 July 1981, p. 24.
M. Eberle, Max Beckmann, Die Nacht: Passion ohne Erlösung, Frankfurt am Main, 1984, no. 16, pp. 52-54 (ill.; titled 'Kleine Operation' and with incorrect medium).
M. Eberle, World War I and the Weimar Artists: Dix, Grosz, Beckmann, Schlemmer, New Haven, 1985, pp. 94-96, pl. 76 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
A. Jürgens-Kirchhoff, Schreckensbilder - Krieg und Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1993, p. 162 (ill.).
H. Kinkel, Fundstätte und Nachtvogel: Zeichnung seit Klinger, Berlin, 2012, no. 85.
U.-M, Schneede, ''Ich habe gezeichnet, das sichert einen gegen Tod und Gefahr" - Max Beckmanns Kriegsjahre 1914⁄1915, in: 1914: Die Avantgarden im Kampf, exh. cat., Bonn, 2013, pp. 254-263.
D. Schubert, Künstler im Trommelfeuer des Krieges 1914-1918, Heidelberg, 2013, p. 456ff (ill.).
C. Lenz, Max Beckmann, Münster 2022, pp. 28 (ill.) & 50.
Exhibited
Bremen, Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann in der Sammlung Piper - Handzeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Dokumente, 1910-1923, October - December 1974, no. 10, p. 29, fig. 16 (titled 'Kleine Operation' and with incorrect medium).
Munich, Galerie Günther Franke, Max Beckmann: 180 Zeichnungen und Aquarelle aus deutschem und amerikanischem Besitz, February - April 1975, no. 10 (titled 'Kleine Operation' and with incorrect medium).
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Max Beckmann: Aquarelle und Zeichnungen 1903 bis 1950, October - December 1977, no. 37, pp. 33 (ill.; with incorrect medium); then Tübingen, Kunsthalle, January - February 1978; and Frankfurt and Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, March - May 1978.
Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Max Beckmann - Die Nacht, September - November 1997, no. 35, pp. 91 (ill.) & 168 (with incorrect cataloguing and medium).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus, Max Beckmann - Krieg, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik 1913-1919, November 2000 - January 2001, no. 1, pp. 2 (ill.) & 30 (with incorrect medium); then Berlin, Käthe-Kollwitz- Museum, January - March 2001.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 2005 - February 2006, no. 5, pp. 28-29 (ill. fig. 3) & 157 (with incorrect medium).
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Max Beckmann - Works from Museum and Private Collections of Hamburg and Lübeck, November 2007 - January 2008, no. 10, pp. 17 & 61 (ill.).
Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 1914: The Avant-Gardes at War, November 2013 - February 2014, pp. 173 (ill.) & 347 (with incorrect medium).

Brought to you by

Zack Boutwood
Zack Boutwood Cataloguer

Lot Essay

In 1914, the year this drawing was made, Beckmann volunteered as a medical orderly on the Eastern front. He presumably sketched the scene in situ in a field hospital, as a wounded soldier is being treated on his left leg, presumably to remove a piece of shrapnel or a bullet. The chair in the foreground and the fact that the nurse is holding the bag for a saline drip or blood infusion up by hand indicate the makeshift nature of this operation.

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