Details
MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Gesichter
the portfolio of 19 drypoints
circa 1914-1918
on Japan paper
fine impressions printing with rich burr, before steel-facing
from the deluxe edition of forty sets on this paper (there was also a regular edition of sixty on wove paper after steel-facing)
printed by F. Hanfstaengl and published by the Marées-Gesellschaft, Munich, 1919
all signed in pencil, some titled and dated
with the original text booklet, with table of contents, lacking the justification
the full sheets
all within the original vellum and paper-covered folder printed with a design by Lily Behrens
in very good condition
Plates 29,7 x 44 cm. (1134 x 1738 in.) (and smaller)
Sheets 37 x 47,5 cm. (1412 x 1834 in.) (and smaller)
Overall 53,3 x 40 cm. (21 x 1534 in.) (portfolio)
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 1 July 2004, lot 109.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to present owners
Literature
J. Hofmaier, Max Beckmann - Catalogue raisoneé of his Prints, Bern, 1990, vol. I, nos. 81, 84, 88-90, 105, 108, 126-137, pp. 204-205, 218-219, 228-239, 280-283, 288-293, 336-375 (other impressions ill.).
Exhibited
Hayward Gallery, London, Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the Twenties, November 1978 - January 1979, no. 11, p. 138. (H. 129 & 135 only)
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Max Beckmann, Der Zeichner und Grafiker, September - November 1979, no. 44, p. 24 (ill.), p. 135. (H. 105 only)
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann: Berliner Reise - Grafik aus dem Besitz der Hamburger Kunsthalle, January - March 1984, nos. 15, 20, 22, 24-34, pl. 7-11 (selected sheets ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann – Menschenorchester, August 1998 – January 1999 (no cat.). (H. 132 only)
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers – Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March 1999 - October 2000, pp. 65, 67 (ill.) & 104-105. (H. 128 & 132 only)
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann: Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 2005 - January 2007, nos. 16-16.18, pp. 42-63 & 160-161, pl. 13-32 (ill.).
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Max Beckmann – Works from Museum and Private Collections of Hamburg and Lübeck, November 2007 - January 2008, nos. 26-44 (ill.), pp. 77-95.
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Lot Essay

The portfolio comprises 19 prints created between 1914 and 1918, which according to Beckmann's correspondence, were chosen from existing plates by the publisher Julius Meier-Graefe.
The order is somewhat haphazard and the titles stated in the table of contents and inscribed in pencil onto the prints do not always correspond. The title of the portfolio, Gesichter, had also been suggested by Meier-Graefe, and plays with the ambiguity of the word in German: Gesichter means both 'faces' and 'visions' or 'apparations'.
Complete sets of this portfolio, with the original and beautifully designed folder, are very rare.
The set comprises the following drypoints: Selbstbildnis 1918 (Self-Portrait 1918); Familienszene (Family Scene); Irrenhaus (Madhouse); Liebespaar I (Lovers I); Liebespaar II (Lovers II); Mainlandschaft (Main River Landscape); Die Gähnenden (The Yawners); Theater; Cafémusik (Café Music); Der Abend (Evening); Kreuzabnahme (Descent from the Cross); Auferstehung (Resurrection); Frühling (Spring); Landschaft mit Ballon (Landscape with Balloon); Zwei Autooffiziere (Two Auto-Officers); Spielende Kinder (Playing Children); Prosit Neujahr (Happy New Year); Grosse Operation (The Large Operation); and Selbstbildnis mit Griffel (Self-Portrait with Stylus).
For preparatory drawings related to the prints Auferstehung ('Resurrection') and Mainlandschaft ('Main River Landscape'), please see lots 227 & 244.

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