Mandrill [p. 34] 

Editor: Here we have "Mandrill" by Max Beckmann. It's a pencil drawing, very sketch-like. It feels almost…unfinished, and the figure is quite distorted. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Note the acute angles defining the subject's face and the energetic, almost frantic lines used to build form. There is no evidence that a 'realistic' depiction was intended. What we do see are lines that create volume, and these tonal gradations evoke deep shadows, casting the subject in an almost sculptural relief. How does this intense contrast influence your perception? Editor: It definitely makes the image feel more dramatic, even confrontational. It’s interesting that it doesn’t look much like a mandrill; it seems to convey more about internal emotion. Do you think that’s intentional? Curator: Intention is always difficult to definitively claim, however, by distorting form, Expressionist artists aimed to convey heightened emotions and subjective experience. Beckmann uses line weight variation and textural hatching, the structural qualities of the pencil strokes that function independently from any representational aim, which might allow for introspection of something within. Are there other formal decisions you feel further this quality? Editor: Yes, the loose sketchiness suggests a fleeting moment, captured raw and unfiltered. I think, at first glance, it does seem unfinished, but with each line considered as tone and volume, its expressive qualities come alive. I appreciate how you frame these drawings through the composition's structure rather than only narrative. Curator: Precisely. These stylistic decisions help reveal what it attempts to convey, perhaps successfully!