Archive Label 2003 (version 1):
The German Expressionists, with whom Beckmann was loosely affiliated, sought to express their inner selves through their work. This is evident in part through their gestural techniques. In Beckmann’s print, for example, the deep, dark lines give a feeling of emotional intensity. In this way, his self-portrait provides not only a physical description, but perhaps a psychological one as well.

Archive Label 2003 (version 2):
Max Beckmann was exposed early to avant-garde art, studying in Paris and familiarizing himself with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles. Settling in Berlin in 1903, he began his life-long practice of doing self-portraits, exploring the puzzle of the role of the individual’s identity in a chaotic world. During World War I, the artist volunteered for the medical corps, which profoundly affected his work and his choice of subjects. Beckmann worked on several important print series after the war, with themes focusing on urban life as a cabaret.

With the Nazi Party’s political ascendency, Beckmann’s art was declared “degenerate.” He was dismissed from his teaching post at the art institute in Frankfurt and his work was removed from all German museums. In 1937, Beckmann was in Amsterdam when German troops occupied the city, and so he was forced to remain there for the remainder of the war, unable to obtain a visa to leave. In 1947, the artist relocated to the United States, teaching first in St. Louis and then at the Art School of the Brooklyn Museum in New York.