Dressing Room (Garderobe) 1921

Max Beckmann pulled this print, titled "Dressing Room," in 1921 using black ink on paper. The starkness of the black ink, the way it bites into the paper, makes me think about the directness of printmaking. There's no room for blending or softening here; each line is decisive. Look at the woman's corset, how the lines curve and tighten around her waist. You can almost feel the constriction. The artist’s mark-making isn't about capturing reality. Instead, it's about constructing a new kind of vision. There's something so modern about this, a willingness to embrace the artificial, the theatrical. Beckmann was a master of etching and lithography, so, although the work might remind you of Picasso or the German Expressionists, it feels like a true original. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions we ask, and Beckmann asks some good ones.