Details
MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Sitzende Frau, ein Kind haltend (Woman sitting, holding a Child)
signed, dated and inscribed Beckmann 12 sein [sic] lieben Ugi (lower left)
pencil on paper
32.6 x 22.8 cm. (1234 x 9 in.)
Drawn in 1912
Provenance
Ugi Battenberg (1879-1957), Frankfurt am Main; a gift from the artist.
Lilly von Schnitzler (1889-1981), Cologne & Frankfurt am Main, by April 1955.
With Kunsthandel Ewald Rathke, Frankfurt.
Acquired from the above in 1973; then by descent to the present owners.
Literature
S. von Wiese, Max Beckmanns zeichnerisches Werk 1903-1925, Düsseldorf, 1978, no. 108, p. 194 (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
Max Beckmann, Meisterwerke 1907-1950, exh. cat., Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart 1994, p. 75 ill. (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
L. Roth, Max Beckmann at the Saint Louis Art Museum: the paintings, exh. cat., Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, 2015, p. 61, ill. fig. 7/4).
H. Finke & S. von Wiese, Max Beckmann - Werkverzeichnis der Zeichnungen, vol. I, 1899-1916, Munich, 2026, no. 274, p. 259 ill.
Exhibited
Cologne, Galerie Theo Hill, Max Beckmann - Zeichnungen und Aquarelle aus den Jahren 1902-1950, April 1955, no. 7, p. 7 (titled 'Sitzende Frau mit Kind').
Frankfurt, Kunsthandel Dr. Ewald Rathke, 1850-1950 - Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, April 1973, no. 3, n.p., ill. (titled 'Mutter und Kind').
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, 1903-1950, October - December 1977, no. 31, ill. fig. 34; this exhibition later travelled to Tübingen, Kunsthalle, January - February 1978; and Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, March - May 1978, no. 31, p. 32, ill. n.p. (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
Hamburg, Kunstverein, Der Zeichner und Grafiker Max Beckmann, September - November 1979, no. 10, p. 133 (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend'); this exhibition later travelled to Darmstadt, Kunsthalle, January - February 1980.
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Max Beckmann - Retrospektive, February - April 1984, no. 141, p. 332 ill.; this exhibition later travelled to Berlin, Nationalgalerie, May - July 1984; Saint Louis, Art Museum, September - November 1984; and Los Angeles, Country Museum, December 1984 - February 1985.
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers - Druckgraphik und vorbereitenden Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part II, April - September 2000, p. 103, ill. p. 61 (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Hegewisch-Kabinett - Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 2005 - February 2006, no. 3, pp. 24 & 157, ill. pl. 1, p. 25 (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Max Beckmann - Works from Museums and Private Collections in Hamburg and Lübeck, November 2007 - January 2008, no. 9, p. 60, ill. pp. 15 & 60 (titled 'Sitzende Frau, ein Kind vor sich haltend').
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Lot Essay

Sit­zende Frau, ein Kind haltend relates closely to Max Beckmann's monumental 1912-13 painting Sinking of the Titanic, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum. Inspired by contemporary news reports and the tradition of 19th-century French history painting, Beckmann depicted the disaster through a dramatic focus on overcrowded lifeboats. The older woman depicted in the present drawing appears in the foremost right lifeboat in the Saint Louis painting, among the women and children struggling to survive the catastrophe.

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