Max Beckmann: The Formative Years, 1915-1925

This generously illustrated and comprehensive book focuses on a decisive decade in Max Beckmann’s career as one of the leading figurative painters of the twentieth century. This publication will provide insight into a critical period in the artist’s development and the accomplishments that earned him such high esteem. Beckmann’s brief but profoundly jarring service as a medical orderly during World War I led to a nervous breakdown. He assimilated his experiences and incorporated recent and radical developments in art, such as Cubism and Expressionism, leading him to advance new pictorial conceptions beginning in 1915. To many of his contemporaries, the work Beckmann created between 1917 and 1925 placed him at the forefront of the latest developments in representational painting. In 1925, Beckmann’s celebrated status was confirmed by his prominence in the groundbreaking “Neue Sachlichkeit” (New Objectivity) exhibition in Mannheim, although he later distanced himself from the term. Hardcover, 256 pages.