Marc ChagallLes Boulevards, 1953Oil and sawdust on canvas
116.3 x 88.5 cm
45 7/8 x 34 7/8 inches
Signed and dated lower right: ‘marc chagall 1953’; signed and dated on the back: ‘chagall 1953’DE SARTHE
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (born 12 February 1884 in Leipzig; died 27 December 1950 in New York City) is regarded as one of the most significant figures of German modernism and a powerful commentator on the world of his era.
His artistic focus centered primarily on the human condition.
Beckmann created self-portraits from his school days onward, establishing a lifelong tradition of using his own image as a vehicle for constant and unflinching self-examination.
At the age of sixteen, he began studying painting at the Grand Ducal School of Art in Weimar, where he graduated with multiple honors. He married fellow painter Minna Tube in 1906.
After periods spent in Paris, Geneva, and Florence, he moved to Berlin in 1907 and joined the “Berliner Secession.” In 1910, when nearly thirty artists were rejected by the Secession jury, Beckmann joined the newly formed “Neue Secession”—led by Max Liebermann—as an act of protest.
The group’s members included Erich Heckel, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Franz Marc, Otto Mueller, Gabriele Münter, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Marianne von Werefkin.
During the First World War, Beckmann served voluntarily as a medical orderly.
In July 1915, however, he suffered a severe physical and psychological collapse and was discharged.
He then relocated to Frankfurt am Main.
The war left an enduring mark on his artistic vision: his work now focused on isolated, endangered, and powerless figures inhabiting a violent, apocalyptic world.
His new themes were accompanied by a transformed aesthetic—muted palettes dominated by browns, greys, and yellows, as well as gaunt, elongated bodies framed within narrow, vertical canvases that heightened the sense of confinement.
From 1915 to 1933, Beckmann taught at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule (now the Städelschule) in Frankfurt, becoming a professor in 1929. In the 1920s his colors grew more vibrant again, and the clarity of New Objectivity could be seen in his simplified forms.
During this period, he also developed a growing interest in mythological subjects. After meeting Mathilde von Kaulbach, he divorced Minna Tube, and in 1925 he married Mathilde, who became one of the most frequently depicted women in art history.
His reputation peaked in 1928 when he received the Reichsehrenpreis Deutscher Kunst and was honored with his first major retrospective at the Kunsthalle Mannheim.
Even before Hitler assumed power in 1933, Beckmann was dismissed from his post at the Städelschule.
He left Frankfurt that same year and returned to Berlin. In 1937, the Nazi regime labelled his work “degenerate,” and his paintings appeared prominently in the infamous exhibitions on degenerate art across Germany.
Marc Chagall Le grand visage, 1955 - 1959 Pastel, colored pencils and indian ink on paper 64 x 49 cm 25 1/4 x 19 3/8 inches Signed and dated 'chagall 1955-59' lower right DE SARTHE
That year he fled with his wife to Amsterdam.
His years in exile were marked by deeply enigmatic works, numerous self-portraits, and symbol-laden triptychs often rooted in mythological narratives.
Starting in 1939, the couple repeatedly applied for U.S. visas but did not receive approval until 1947.
Later that year, Beckmann began teaching at the Art School of Washington University in St. Louis.
In May 1948, the Saint Louis Art Museum presented a major retrospective of his work.
At the end of 1949, he accepted a position at the Art School of the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
Washington University in St. Louis awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1950.
By then, however, he struggled to maintain visibility amid the growing dominance of postwar non-objective painting.
Marc Chagall Couple aux fleurs et raisins, 1976 Tempera, gouache, pastel, colored pencils and graphite on japan paper 62 x 46 cm 24 1/2 x 18 1/8 inches Signed 'marc chagall' (lower right) DE SARTHE
Beckmann died of a heart attack on 27 December 1950 at the age of 66.
His tenth triptych, Amazons, remained unfinished.
Today, Beckmann’s triptychs are considered among the most important works of twentieth-century art. Alongside his paintings, he also produced an extensive body of prints.
