Max Beckmann

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.