Gesellschaft 1915

Curator: Max Beckmann's print, titled "Gesellschaft," throws us right into a crowd. What strikes you about it? Editor: Claustrophobia! All those faces pressing in, the stark black and white... it feels like a bad dream about a crowded train. Curator: It's an etching, that lends itself to this starkness. Beckmann often explored the unease of modern life, and the masses, well they were part of this. Editor: You know, I see echoes of his wartime experiences here. That raw, almost brutal honesty in the faces, the sense of being trapped… Curator: It’s hard not to see the echoes of turmoil. Beckmann was deeply affected by the First World War, and his art became a powerful commentary on society's ills. Editor: It's unsettling, even now. Makes you wonder what he would make of our world. Curator: Indeed, a stark reminder that some human anxieties seem to endure across time.