drei Figurenstudien (Portrait Studies) [p. 18] 1944 - 1949

Max Beckmann made these "drei Figurenstudien", or portrait studies, with pencil. The scribbly quality of the line is what grabs me first; it's like he's feeling out the forms, not trying to nail them down. You can see how the pressure on the pencil varies, making the lines darker or lighter, thicker or thinner, almost like a heartbeat. Look at the jumble of marks that suggest the head on the left – it’s a cloud of thinking, a storm of observation. Then, over on the right, the more defined profile almost seems to emerge out of the chaos. Beckmann’s work often has this tension between clarity and confusion. Think of his paintings, with their crowded compositions and distorted figures. He reminds me a bit of Picasso, in that way, always pushing and pulling at the edges of representation. He uses line not just to describe, but to evoke a whole mood, a state of mind.