Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis)
Max Beckmann
German, 1884–1950
1914, published 1918
A drypoint self-portrait by Max Beckmann in which the artist uses sharply bitten, restless lines to confront his own likeness and inner intensity.
The face forces attention through a web of cross-hatched, scraping strokes—dark, shadowed eyes and a taut mouth emerging like a figure carved from the paper’s pale field.
Made around World War I, this print shows how modern printmaking and Beckmann’s abrasive draftsmanship made psychological truth visible, shaping a hard-edged, introspective approach to the modern self-portrait.
Medium
Drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 9 1/8 x 6 15/16" (23.2 x 17.7 cm); sheet: 17 1/16 x 12 13/16" (43.4 x 32.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Paul J. Sachs
Accession
1.1929
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
