MAX BECKMANN (German, 1884-1950) Hotel Lobby,1950 Oil on canvas, 56 x 35" Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1950

Throughout his career, Max Beckmann’s painting reflected his life. When World War I broke out, he enthusiastically signed up as a medical corpsman, but eventually suffered a breakdown because of the horrors he witnessed. The period between the wars was no better. He detested the Nazis, who launched a campaign against what they termed "degenerate art." Art was deemed degenerate if it did not fulfill the function Hitler believed it should serve, which was to show a happy and healthy society, which Germany was not at the time. Beckmann was dismissed from his teaching post, and his work was removed from all national museums and confiscated by the Nazis. This happened to most artists working in a modern style at that time in Germany; some were even forbidden to paint. The confiscated works were shown in Munich at a Nazi-sponsored exhibition called Degenerate Artand, afterwards, many were sold to finance the Nazi regime.

Beckmann left Germany in 1937, one week before the exhibition in Munich. He spent most of the war in Amsterdam, then moved to the United States in 1947, where he had been offered a two-year position teaching art at Washington University in St. Louis. Beckmann was well thought of as an artist, but as a German, so soon after the war, he was often treated with suspicion. Hotel Lobbyreflects some of his feelings. It was painted in 1950, the year he died of a heart attack. The figure in the center is usually identified as the artist himself. He, like everyone else in the painting, seems to be alone—although they are in close physical proximity, they are emotionally isolated from one another. The black lines create an oppressed and cramped feeling, and the ladder-like object in the foreground keeps viewers out as well. The colors are not cheerful, but eerie and cold, and are made even more so by the garish artificial light that falls on them.

The style of the painting is called German Expressionism. Expressionism in general is any art in which the emotional and subjective aspects take precedence over objective or formal concerns. German Expressionism is a more specific term that relates to the art created by Germans surrounding the two world wars. With most Expressionist art, it is not necessary to be given an explanation—viewers can get the message just by looking and feeling. Beckmannf said, "If people cannot understand my paintings of their own accord, out of their own creative sympathy, there is no use showing the paintings…since they are truths that cannot be put into words."

— Mariann Smith

SUGGESTIONS FOR HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION

• Have the students sketch a self-portrait on a large piece of paper, including a setting and objects that tell something about their lives. Rub the back of the drawing with heavy soft pencil (8B is good) and then turn the drawing face up onto another piece of paper and redraw, making a copy on the second sheet of paper. On one drawing, use a black crayon or marker, and follow the sketch lines until the picture is all outlined in black. Then, paint or color it. On the second drawing, don’t use any black outlines at all. Compare the two works. Are they similar in mood? Did you use the same colors? If not, why? How else do they look different?
• Have the students choose three characters in the painting, and write an essay (or discuss) what each person is thinking.
• Using students as the characters, create a tableau of the painting. Take a photograph if you can. Have each character describe how they got into the painting.