Max Beckmann papers
name: label: Creator
content: Beckmann, Max, 1884-1950
label: Names
content: Beckmann, Mathilde Q.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Germany
label: Topic
content: Art -- Germany
label: Topic
content: Educators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Mathilde Q. Beckmann, the artist's widow, loaned diaries and notebooks for microfilming in 1977 and donated additional material in 1983.
creator: label: Creator
content: Beckmann, Max, 1884-1950
setName: label: See more items in
content: Max Beckmann papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of painter and educator Max Beckmann measure 1.4 linear feet and date from 1917 to 1954. The collection documents Beckmann's art career in Germany as well as New York and includes biographical material, correspondence, printed material and photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Max Beckmann (1884-1950) was a painter and educator who was born and educated in Germany and based in New York after World War II.

Max Beckmann was born in 1884 in Leipzig, Germany. He studied art at the Weimar-Saxon Grand Ducal Art Academy from 1900 to 1902 and graduated with honors. During World War I, he volunteered as a medical orderly from 1914 t0 1915, an experience that haunted him and deeply impacted his artwork. Beckmann's art is considered part of the German New Objectivity movement. 

In 1925, Beckmann's first marriage to Minna Tube ended in divorce, and he married Mathilde von Kaulbach. That same year he began teaching art at the Städelschule Academy of Fine Art in Frankfurt. By the late 1920s he had several major exhibitions in museums and galleries in Germany and Switzerland, had his first exhibition in the US (1926), and his paintings were acquired by the National Gallery in Berlin.

When Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and the Nazis came to power, marking the end of the Weimar Republic, modern art was quickly suppressed and derisively referred to as "degenerate art."  Consequently, Beckmann lost his teaching job at the Frankfurt Art Academy and several of his paintings were included in the Degenerate Art or Entartete Kunst exhibition (1937) in Munich. Shortly thereafter, Beckmann left Germany and never returned to the country again.

Beckmann and his wife Mathilde settled in Amsterdam, where they stayed for approximately ten years. Beckmann continued to paint during this time. After the end of World War II, Beckmann immigrated to the United States where he taught, painted, and regularly exhibited his work. He taught art at Washington State University in St. Louis, Missouri, for a time and then became an art professor at the Brooklyn Museum's Art School in New York. Max Beckmann died in 1950.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1917-1954
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.beckmax
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as four series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-1954 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1950 (Boxes 1-2; 1 linear foot)

Series 3: Printed Material, circa 1937-1950 (Box 2; 4 folders)

Series 4: Photographs, 1917-1950 (Box 2; 7 folders)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection received a preliminary level of arrangement after donation and was microfilmed on reels 1340-1341. The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Rihoko Ueno in 2018.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Portions of the collection and materials lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 1213-1214, 1237, and 1340-1341 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of painter and educator Max Beckmann measure 1.4 linear feet and date from 1917 to 1954. The collection documents Beckmann's art career in Germany as well as New York and includes biographical material, correspondence, printed material and photographs.

Biographical material consists of an art class student register, art organization membership card, bibliography, customs forms for a pet, exhibition price lists, and assorted travel identification documents.

Correspondence is with universities, museums and galleries regarding teaching positions, lectures, exhibitions and art sales. There are also numerous letters and telegrams with his wife Mathilde.

Printed material includes clippings, catalogs, postcards, and miscellany.

Photographs are of Max Beckmann, family, friends, exhibition installations, and houses. Most of the series consists of photographic prints, but there are also a few negatives. Many of the photographs are annotated in German.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Max Beckmann Archive in Munich, Germany also holds papers of Max Beckmann including correspondence, clippings, photographs and artifacts.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 1213-1214 and 1237) including ten personal diaries of Max Beckmann and three notebooks containing lists of works, sketches, and some daily entries of activities and observations. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.