Tavern (Kneipe) 1911

Max Beckmann made this print, "Tavern," and right away I'm thinking about how he built this whole scene with simple, gestural marks. It's all in the suggestive lines, isn't it? You can almost feel the scratch of the charcoal pulling you into the smoky vibe of the place. I bet he was there, sketching away in the corner, nursing a beer. Imagine the way he captured the energy, all the people with their faces, hats and chatter. You sense the gloom and the fug. The texture’s so raw and immediate, you almost hear the clinking of glasses. There's something about the surface, the way the ink sits on the paper, that feels so connected to other expressionists like Kirchner, who used a rough and ready method to capture the feeling of the city. You know, artists are always in conversation with each other, even across time, inspiring one another. It's like they pass the baton down the ages, remixing and sampling, all through feeling and process.