Mink, Frontal, with Elaborate Coiffure (Mink von vorn mit grosser Frisur)
Max Beckmann
German, 1884–1950
(1913, published c. 1922)
A small drypoint portrait in which Max Beckmann uses spare, incisive lines to render a woman's head and convey a concentrated, ambiguous expression.
The scratchy, hairlike marks and soft plate tones draw your eye to the sitter’s intense, dark gaze and lightly sketched coiffure set against a large field of white paper.
Made just before World War I, the print shows how Beckmann transformed academic likeness into a modern psychological portrait, using drypoint’s expressive line to bridge 19th‑century draftsmanship and the inward focus of German Expressionism.
Medium
Drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 6 5/8 x 5 1/4" (16.9 x 13.4 cm); sheet (irreg.): 16 1/4 x 9 13/16" (41.2 x 25 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Victor S. Riesenfeld
Accession
48.1955
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
