Max Beckmann
(Germany 1884–1950)
Mother and daughter
- Other titles:
- Old woman in ermine, Old lady with daughter
- Location
- Modern gallery
- Further information
Although associated with German expressionism and the New Objectivity movement, Max Beckmann occupies his own category as a moral fabulist. His proclivity was for symbolic narratives, often large in scale and complex in iconography, that highlight the tragicomic fate of humanity. The triptych, with its sacred associations, was the format he favoured for important projects, producing a significant number of them at the time of his forced flight from Nazism in 1937. Beckmann's portraits, still-life subjects, nudes and smaller genre pieces are equally invested with a sense of the sacramental. Ever the sceptical recorder of the follies of the world, even his most affectionate works have a cynical edge. 'Mother and daughter' [invested with Beckham's sense of the sacramental]: might be read as a prostitute presented for our inspection by the madam of the brothel. Or perhaps the older woman signifies exhausted Europe, counterpoised with the vital New World of America. Beckmann relocated to the United States in 1947 after a decade spent in Holland.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
- Year
- 1946
- Media
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 150.5 x 80.5cm stretcher; 172.4 x 102.9 x 6.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.c., black oil "Beckmann / ... 46".
- Credit
- Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation Purchase 1987
- Accession number
- 400.1987
- Copyright
- © Max Beckmann/Bild-Kunst. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
- Provenance
- Galerie Beyeler (Switzerland), 1985-01 May 1987, Basel/Switzerland, Purchased by the AGNSW from Galerie Beyeler 1987. Galerie Beyeler stock no. 10714
Grace Borgenicht Gallery (United States of America, closed 1996), circa 1985, New York/New York/United States of America, Purchased by Galerie Beyeler from Grace Borgenicht Gallery 1985
Private Collection, 1976, New York/New York/United States of America, Information from 'Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde', Band I; Erhard Göpel, Barbara Göpel; 1976, pg. 437, as New York, Privatbesitz
Catherine Viviano Gallery (United States of America, estab. 1950, closed 1970), 1967, New York/New York/United States of America, with Catherine Viviano Gallery 1967. Exhibited in 'Twelve paintings of women by Max Beckmann' 7 Feb - 4 Mar 1967, cat.no.8. Catherine Viviano Gallery handled the estate of Max Beckmann.
Mathilde Quappi Beckmann (Germany, b.1904, d.1986), 1950-1967?, New York/New York/United States of America
