Mann mit Brille (Man Wearing Spectacles) [p. 33] 

Curator: Looking at this sketch, I immediately sense a certain fragility, a vulnerability conveyed through those tentative pencil strokes. The man’s glasses become these oversized, almost cartoonish, orbs that both magnify and distort his features. Editor: And it's this very rawness, wouldn't you say, that links it to broader shifts in German art during the early 20th century? Here, we have Max Beckmann, renowned for his role in the New Objectivity movement, captured on paper this drawing, "Mann mit Brille." The name translates to "Man Wearing Spectacles". I think this work stands as a powerful statement about identity and perception. Curator: Absolutely. I read his choice to emphasize the glasses as almost symbolic—an invitation, or perhaps a demand, that we look closer. I think he is almost challenging the viewers' perceptions of an average person's reality in a time of chaos. There's an unsettling psychological dimension at play here. Editor: Considering Beckmann’s biography—his experiences in World War I and the subsequent social upheaval in Germany—this work resonates differently. You're right to emphasize the lenses of perception. One might be blind if he refuses to see what reality beholds, and the reality in Europe was in decline after World War 1. The exaggerated form almost echoes a societal unease during that era, but it must also express individual frailty as an aging and somewhat disoriented figure of an ordinary man. Curator: Yes, there is a certain world-weariness visible. This portrait holds up the idea that visual signifiers, such as eyeglasses, also play roles of psychological masks behind which anxieties hide in plain sight. The simplicity only amplifies its emotional weight. I feel empathy for his sitter! Editor: The fact that the portrait has no particular date allows each viewer to come in and attribute their experiences and emotions to the drawing itself. This drawing transcends its immediate subject and becomes a mirror reflecting our own anxieties and hopes. Curator: A perfect case for art allowing us a glimpse into the collective unconscious. Editor: Exactly! This quick sketch manages to raise so many enduring questions about perception, identity, and the shared human condition.