Drei zu Tisch sitzende Figuren (Three Figures at a Table) [p. 77] 1927

Max Beckmann made this drawing, 'Three Figures at a Table', with pencil, and you can tell he’s thinking through the image, letting the initial marks stay visible to build a sense of volume and depth. There’s nothing slick or concealed here, just good old fashioned thinking, with a pencil. You can almost feel Beckmann’s hand moving across the page, deciding, changing his mind. Look at the figure on the right, with those vertical stripes, and the way the marks are hatched, so you can feel the pressure of the pencil. These marks aren’t just describing form, they are building up the figure, making it more present. Beckmann, like Picasso, was always in dialogue with the art of the past. His use of flattened space and simplified forms reminds me of Cezanne, but with a distinctly modern, anxious edge. What's so exciting about art is that it is constantly rethinking itself, always in the process of becoming.