Beckmann Sketchbook 2 1910 - 1947

This is Max Beckmann’s sketchbook. Its surface is a dark and scuffed-up monochrome. I can feel the held breath of the artist as he worked. I imagine Beckmann walking around in the world with this thing, just ready to capture a fleeting image. I can almost feel the texture of the cover under my own fingers. It’s not precious. It’s a working thing. And I wonder, what was he thinking as his pencil scratched across the page? The torn edges of the paper tell a story of urgency and use. It's like he's wrestling with ideas, trying to pin them down before they escape. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, across time. Beckmann’s practice shares concerns with other German artists like Otto Dix and George Grosz, whose works similarly reflect the trauma of their time. Each artist inspires the next, pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. And for me, painting is all about that messy, uncertain process, embracing the ambiguity, and finding new ways to see and feel the world.