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Lot Essay
Weit ausschreitender männlicher Rückenakt relates closely to Beckmann's monumental unfinished painting Auferstehung, begun in 1916 and now in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, as well as the 1918 pen and ink drawing of the same title (lot 227). Conceived shortly after his discharge from military service, Auferstehung abandons the conventions of Beckmann's earlier Resurrection scene (1908-09), transposing the biblical subject to a war-ravaged city where figures emerge from the ruins in a vision of suffering and renewal. The striding male nude in the present drawing appears in the upper right of both the Stuttgart painting and the associated pen and ink drawing. For another preparatory drawing of the same scene and closely related to the present sheet, see lot 307, a sketch of the central Christ-like figure in the Auferstehung compositions. This drawing, as well as the following lot, once belonged to the collectors Walter and Käthe Carl, who were amongst the first patrons of Max Beckmann in Frankfurt. Walter Carl was Friedel Battenberg's brother, and it was undoubtedly through this connection that they got to know the artist. A very fine double portrait of the couple painted in 1918 is on permanent loan to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt (inv. no. LG76).
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Pencil on slightly textured wove paper. Hinged to the mount at the reverse upper sheet corners. Mild light staining. A spot of discolouration towards the right upper edge and some tiny scattered foxmarks. The lower left corner with a diagonal crease and further soft creases in places elsewhere. The pencil is strong and fresh with some rubbing possibly form the time of execution. The reverse with the Sammlung Walter and Käthe Carl collection stamp. Subject to the foregoing, it is our opinion that this work appears to be in generally very good condition
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