Portraiture, German Art, Fauvism, Expressionism & Early Modern Art Movements

Beckmann and the Self

Name: Beckmann and the Self
Author: Wendy Beckett
ISBN: 9783791317373

by Wendy Beckett

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Overview

Sister Wendy Beckett's highly acclaimed insights into the work and psyche of Max Beckmann, one of the major Expressionist painters and graphic artists of the 20th century. The author sheds new light on the way the traumatic events in the artist's life were reflected in his painting and observes that "he painted himself as if thereby to find himself. If he could make visible...these lineaments, that expression, that visual record of his experience, then he might come to a deeper experience of what he was." By tracing the changing moods of Beckmann's painting throughout his life, Sister Wendy, with her uncanny and intimate skills of analysis, plots a fascinating series of peaks and troughs in his feeling of self-worth. She correlates these directly with events in his life, and reveals a number of hidden self-portraits. Much of Beckmann's work was dramatically influenced by the two world wars, and Sister Wendy shows how it was only the artist's last works, in America, that demonstrated he had finally reached fulfillment.

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From Barnes & Noble

In Beckmann and the Self, Sister Wendy Beckett explores the life and work of Expressionist genius Max Beckmann. The art-loving nun traces the artist's career through the two world wars that influenced his most productive period to his final years, spent in America. In discussing the personal traumas and seminal experiences that informed Beckmann's art, Sister Wendy draws conclusions about the development of an artist's psyche and its expression in visual media. Highly illustrated, mostly in color.

Booknews

Sister Wendy Beckett is the author of numerous articles and books on the history of art and has hosted three television series for the BBC and PBS. Here she lends her insights into the work and psyche of Max Beckmann, one of the major Expressionist painters and graphic artists of the 20th century. Like others in this publisher's series, the volume is abundantly and beautifully illustrated. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.