Max Beckmann (Beckmann Max)

(1884-1950)
Born in Leipzig, February 12, 1884. In 1900-1903 he studied at the Weimar Academy of Painting, in 1909-1911 was a member of the New Berlin Secession. During the First World War he served as a medical orderly at the front. After the war, Beckmann moved to Frankfurt and taught at the Art School. After the Nazis came to power Beckman was suspended from teaching. His works were exhibited at the exhibition 'Degenerate Art'. In 1937 he emigrated to Amsterdam, where he lived during the Second World War in 1947 he moved to the United States, taught at the University of St. Louis.
In the works Beckman can be traced consistent stylistic evolution. He began with imitation impressionism in the works presented at the first exhibition of the Berlin Secession. Works created by the wizard after the war, filled with horror and deep sadness, as expressed through a very harsh and brutal distortion. Typical works of this period - paintings Night (1918-1919, Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung North Rhine-Westphalia) and Family Portrait (New York, Museum of Modern Art). In the 1920's distortion gradually leveled out, while in a calm frame of mind, Beckman wrote in a neutral manner, for example, self-portrait with a cigar (private collection). For 1930 years, when the technical skill of the artist has reached the highest level, he appeals to a more subtle and complex ways. The content of his works becomes generalized and allegorical character, as in the triptych Departure (1932-1933, New York, Museum of Modern Art) and Carnival (University of Iowa).

Creativity Beckman distinguishes intense and powerful realist interpretation of form - an effect which it is attained through the use of acute generalized contours and intense color. Beckmann died in New York on December 27, 1950.