MAX BECKMANN (1884 Leipzig - 1950 New York Ci... Lot n° 13

Siesta Drypoint on wove paper. 1923. 19,9 x 39,3 cm (38 x 53,5 cm). Signed "Beckmann". Edition of 60 copies. Hofmaier 280 II B. Splendid impression with strong burr effect and delicate plate tone, with the full margin, above with the scoop margin. Present print from the edition of 60 copies, but not numbered. On the left below the platemark with the blind stamp of the printer Heinrich Wetteroth, Munich, published by R. Piper & Co, Munich. No other work by Beckmann tells as impressively as "Siesta" of the tolerance of the women who accompanied Beckmann. For the double portrait is actually a triple portrait. Our print most likely represents the original version of the painting "Siesta" (Göpel 353), which dates from 1924, but was revised by the artist in 1931. In 1924 Beckmann chose his first wife Minna as the model for the picture, 7 years later he painted over her face with that of his second wife Mathilde, called Quappi. In our etching, Minna is lightly dressed in stockings and a skimpy dress, lying on a bed with a pensive expression on her face. Beckmann, in his characteristic profile, sits upright on a chair with a bare torso. Behind them the room is closed by two curtains, only the left one gives a view of a house front. The nakedness of the couple, their silent, motionless interaction, and the curtained windows convey the impression of a warm summer day. That Beckmann was already pursuing this intention in the etching becomes clear in a dedication of a proof: "Meiner süße Minna zum Andenken an München im heißen Königshof, Sommer 1923". Compared to the oil painting (https://beckmann-gemaelde.org/353-siesta), the preceding etching differs sketchily: Minna is more scantily clad, her eyes are open instead of closed, as are Beckmann's. The print is more intimate. The fact that, in addition, the window view is of a house front instead of the greenery of Munich's royal inner courtyard moves the scene into the interior, into the deepest interior and Max and Minna Beckmann's personal relationship to each other. "Siesta" becomes an intimate mirror, a private testimony of the artist's relationship with his wife.