Thanks to the artists diary, his letters and reports by contemporaries, we know quite a lot about these (Amsterdam) years. Beckmann was astonishingly prolific and created very many important works in Amsterdam in spite of the increasingly difficult living conditions following the outbreak of the War on 1 September 1939 and the occupation of the Netherlands by German troops on 10 May 1940. His productivity is manifest not least through the preserved works from the time. Images of resistance in the simplest sense are few and far between. Max Beckmann had come to a world view in which, notwithstanding his love for humanity, nature and the simple things, the metaphysical realm was of the greatest importance. Is there life after death? Does reincarnation take place in the great ages of time? Who are the gods and daemons who play with our fates? How can I become a Self? Despite his philosophical and religious interests, Max Beckmann was anything but detached from the world; indeed, he took note of the goings-on of the War both near and far; the small and large indignities of everyday life; strikes by the Amsterdam workers; visits by his few friends and acquaintances; eating and drinking, not least in the bars; walks and moods that swung between an indomitable will to live and deep depression. Political questions go all but unmentioned in his diary; if at all, they appear in general terms, encrypted or as keywords. This was perhaps not only, but certainly also a precautionary measure after the German occupation of Holland. On the occasion, Beckmann had burnt his previous diaries. Thus we read: “Berlin - Rome - Tokyo” (27 September 1940), “War with Russia!!” (22 June 1941), “War Japan - America!! - The pilots are in the air - „ (8 December 1941), “Germany declares war on America” (11 December 1941), “Major air raid, heard 1,000 planes flying to Cologne. Bomb fell in the area.” (23 May 942), “Afternoon with Q.[appi] on foot looking for butter and coals – in vain.” (1 June 1943) “Saw the English (pilots) coming from the sea in huge bands like the bristling hair of Zeus Jupiter. “Heard all destroyed in Frankfurt. Sad …” (12 April 1944) He also repeatedly reflects on his own situation: “Today I wanted to die of weakness and melancholy again.” (31 March 1943), “Very worried and nerveux for 1944. Life is dark – as is death. Close 1943.” (31 December 1943) And yet: “Even our own cadaver-bones shall not hinder us from standing our ground until the very last, proud and tired in the face of the black wall that surrounds us.” (10 October 1943) At last came the day of liberation and with it the end of the War for Max and Quappi Beckmann: “At 10 oclock a Dutch girl came by Lütjens: ! PEACE!“, records the diary entry on 4 May 1945, but on 5 May we find: “Well - not quite yet - green police [the Germans] still driving around with machine guns, etc. Nevertheless big peace party with warning by Eisenhower. - Walked around in the city, much drunkenness.” And the ever-present daily cares (“Coal, coal, coal!!! Everything down to the scarcity of coal.” (21 May) now combined with worries about getting the requisite Dutch papers and not being classified as a hostile foreigner and returned to Germany. The papers were not issued until August 1946. In early 1947 a foreign trip was once again possible, to Nice via Paris; and on 29 August Beckmann was off to New York before continuing on to St. Louis, where a teaching position awaited him. Looking at the years of Max Beckmanns Dutch exile, it can indubitably be regarded as a distinct period. It was in Beckmanns life a period of increasing adversity – from the Nazis defamation as a “degenerate” artist to emigration, the outbreak of the War, denial of a visa for America, the occupation of Holland, the threat of being conscripted into military service, the slackening sales and thwarted exhibitions on down to the difficulties of living in an occupied country as a national of the occupying force and not receiving papers at the end of the War. These hardships, combined with age and illness, led the painter into deep depressions. But he found solace in the face of his fears and doubts again and again in a thought which, in different forms, manifests itself in his work as well: “If you look at all of this – the whole War or even ones whole life as just a scene in the theatre of the ›eternal‹, many things are easier to bear –” (12 September 1940) Above all, art helped him through it. In spite of myriad difficulties, a rich trove of work emerged in Amsterdam. more: kuenste-im-exil.de/KIE/Web/EN/Navigation/Special-exhibitions/MaxBeckmann/02ExilParisAmsterdam/exil_paris_amsterdam.html Just one year before his emigration, in 1946, Beckmann painted Begin the Beguine. The painting displays a man with a woman on his lap, with a standing man to the right, a woman with bound arms beneath and large birds in the background. The painting’s color palette is a vibrant mix of effervescent blues, purples and greens, accented by pops of orange and yellow. The painting exudes energy and excitement, inviting the viewer to take part in the painting’s movement and dance. UMMA docent note Max Beckmann Begin the Beguine 1946 oil on canvas 177 x 121 cm University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 03:15:39 +0000
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