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Self-Portrait in Bowler Hat (Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut)
Max Beckmann
European Art
The German Expressionist Max Beckmann created more than eighty self-portraits during his career—many of them prints, which afforded him a range of marks, lines, and textures with which to articulate his own shifting attitudes and emotional states. In this densely worked, spiky image, he appears as a gentleman wearing a bowler hat, stiff collar, and tie, holding a cigarette rakishly. A cat—placed so it seems to be whispering in his ear—and an oil lamp flank him. His form is pushed to the front of the picture plane, with his large eyes conveying a sense of detached appraisal.
Beckmann immigrated to the United States in 1947 and taught for several years at the Brooklyn Museum Art School (which closed in 1985).
Beckmann immigrated to the United States in 1947 and taught for several years at the Brooklyn Museum Art School (which closed in 1985).
MEDIUM
Drypoint on laid paper
DATES
1921
DIMENSIONS
Image (Plate): 12 1/2 x 9 7/16 in. (31.8 x 24 cm)
Sheet: 19 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (48.9 x 33.7 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed, "Beckmann" lower right margin in pencil
INSCRIPTIONS
Lower left in graphite: "2 Zustand, Selbst mit Hut 2i"; lower right in graphite: "Beckmann"; bottom right later addition in graphite: "Beckmann, Max, 1884-1950 GER/Self-portrait in A HAT, 1921"
Verso bottom right in graphite: "64.101.350"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
64.101.350
CREDIT LINE
Gift of The Louis E. Stern Foundation, Inc.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Max Beckmann (Leipzig, Germany, 1884–1950, New York, New York). Self-Portrait in Bowler Hat (Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut), 1921. Drypoint on laid paper, Image (Plate): 12 1/2 x 9 7/16 in. (31.8 x 24 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Louis E. Stern Foundation, Inc., 64.101.350. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 64.101.350_PS9.jpg)
STATE
II/IV
IMAGE
overall, 64.101.350_PS9.jpg., 2019
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© artist or artist's estate
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