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Image

Max Beckmann

Shooting Gallery

Description

Maker

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

Title

Shooting Gallery
from the portfolio The Annual Fair (Jahrmarkt)
Jahrmarkt

Year

1922

Medium

  • Etching and drypoint on paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Etching and drypoint on paper

Materials

ink

Supports

  • medium weight cream wove paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 53 x 38.1 cm (20 7/8 x 15 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--signed in pencil by artist

Marks: Watermark on colophon; oval shape and embossed blind stamp on LR under plate.

Identification

Edition

105/200

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

53.117.4

Type

  • Prints

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 3: Circus

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Circus
Aug 01, 2014 – Feb 22, 2015

Label copy

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
German Graphic Arts, 1900 - 1933
Nov 05, 2004 – Jan 23, 2005

Label copy

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.

Expressionist Visions
Prints and Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Dec 04, 1992 – Jan 24, 1993
German Expressionist Prints and Drawings
Jun 20, 1986 – Aug 16, 1986
Contemporary Prints
Recent Acquisitions
Jun 09, 1953 – Dec 11, 1953

Related Objects

Related Objects

No Image Available

Max Beckmann

The Annual Fair (Jahrmarkt)

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Tombstone

Max Beckmann (German, 1884-1950), designer
Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl (ca. 1922), printer
Marèes-Gesellschaft, publisher
R. Piper and Co. (German, ca. 1922), publisher
Shooting Gallery; from the portfolio The Annual Fair (Jahrmarkt); Jahrmarkt, 1922
Etching and drypoint on paper
Sheet: 53 x 38.1 cm (20 7/8 x 15 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 53.117.4

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