Dancing Couple (Tanzpaar)
1946
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in black
Dimensions
sheet: 40 x 30 cm (15 3/4 x 11 13/16 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Max Beckmann
Accession Number
1984.64.74
Art Historical Context
**Dancing Couple (Tanzar)**, a striking 1946 lithograph by Beckmann, captures the distinctive Expressionist style through bold, angular lines in stark black ink on a 40 x 30 cm sheet. Beckmann, a leading figure in German Expressionism, was renowned for his distorted figures and symbolic compositions that conveyed profound emotional and existential themes. This print, part of a portfolio, exemplifies his post-war introspection, created just after World War II when he had endured years in exile from Nazi Germany, first in Amsterdam and then in the United States. Lithography, Beckmann's chosen m...
About the Artist
Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (1884-1950) stands as one of the most significant German painters of the twentieth century, a complex artist who bridged Expressionism and the New Objectivity while forging a deeply personal visual language. Born in Leipzig into a middle-class family, Beckmann's artistic journey spanned from academic classicism through the traumatic crucible of World War I to a mature s...