Familienszene (Family Scene) [p. 49] 1944 - 1949

Max Beckmann made this ink drawing, Family Scene, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. The loose lines seem to capture the claustrophobia of domestic life. Beckmann lived through both World Wars in Germany, and his art often reflects the anxiety and social disruption of the period. He had first-hand experience of the front lines in WWI, and was dismissed from his post as a museum curator by the Nazi government. His later works show him grappling with the moral bankruptcy of institutional structures. This drawing can be read as a commentary on the dissolution of the traditional family. But to truly understand an image like this, the historian can look to sources outside the artwork itself, from census data to political manifestos. What were the social pressures on families in Germany during that time? What other factors might have shaped Beckmann's view of the family?