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Max Beckmann

The Big Man, 1922

Description

Maker

  • Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl, ca. 1922, printer
  • Marèes-Gesellschaft, publisher
  • R. Piper and Co., ca. 1922, German, publisher
  • Max Beckmann, 1884-1950, German

Title

The Big Man

Year

1922

Medium

Etching and drypoint on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • ink

Techniques

  • etching (printing process),
  • drypoint (printing process)

Supports

  • medium weight cream wove paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 53.3 x 38.1 cm (21 x 15 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--signed in pencil by artist

Identification

Edition

105/200

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

53.117.5

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 3

Circus
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Circus

August 1, 2014 - February 22, 2015

Devoid of the typically lighthearted aspects of the circus, Max Beckmann’s Annual Fair is filled with crowded, vertiginous pictoral spaces, focusing on acts primarily seen in the sideshow—many of which were known to be hoaxes—and offering glimpses of the performers backstage, perhaps revealing the artificiality of the circus.

After Beckmann’s traumatic experience as a member of the German medical corps during World War I, the theater, carnival, and circus became increasingly important settings in his imagery, functioning as metaphors for folly, political hypocrisy, and chaos in postwar German life.

Dreams and Nightmares

November 5, 2004 - January 23, 2005

Whereas August Sander photographed circus people as distinct social types, Max Beckmann identified with their position as outsiders. The Fair portfolio opens with a portrait of Beckmann as a barker, rounding up customers for the “Circus Beckmann.” Self-portraits are scattered throughout the portfolio, in which the fair is a metaphor for the marketplace of life. In The Tall Man, the artist is represented twice: as a spectator in the left corner and as the sideshow freak, presented to the audience by a caricature of Beckmann’s publisher, I.B. Neumann. The fairground ride at the back is labeled “Panopticum,” a comment on the visual display of the artist. Even The Tightrope Walkers depicts the artist, a mysterious sheeted figure precariously balancing as he steps towards his first wife, Minna.

Related

No Image Available

Max Beckmann, designer

The Annual Fair (Jahrmarkt), 1922

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Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is The Big Man with the accession number of 53.117.5. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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