Mandrill [p. 26] 

Curator: This striking pencil drawing is entitled "Mandrill," found on page 26 of Max Beckmann's sketchbook. It offers us an intimate glimpse into the artist's creative process. What are your first impressions? Editor: I’m immediately drawn to the sketch-like quality, the quickness of the marks. You can almost feel Beckmann's hand moving across the page, wrestling with the subject. It's raw, unfinished. Curator: Precisely. This raw quality aligns with the broader ethos of German Expressionism, where emotional intensity trumped realistic depiction. Beckmann, while not strictly adhering to any single movement, engaged deeply with its concerns after experiencing World War I, portraying emotional distress. Editor: The economic conditions, the paper itself surely wasn’t cheap, making it even more imperative that Beckmann capture what he saw quickly and directly. The scarcity informs the piece’s frantic energy, the need to get it down, to record it. Curator: It certainly invites us to consider the social functions of this sketch, possibly as source material for a future project, given his focus on figuration throughout his oeuvre. Editor: And the way the pencil marks create a sense of form without fully defining it; the lines hatching to suggest volume and shadow. It feels very immediate and process-driven. I am wondering about its significance as source material as well. Did he use this later on in any paintings? Curator: His "Mandrill" serves not merely as an accurate representation but as a potent expression of the artist's internal state and response to a society marked by fragmentation and disillusionment. It resonates with his more renowned pieces like “The Night.” The drawing underscores his artistic preoccupation with depicting the multifaceted layers of the human experience. Editor: A crucial reminder that the sketch is never neutral, and this sketch in particular, as you say, deeply informs us of Beckmann's engagement with Expressionism. Curator: Exactly. Thank you for offering your insights into Beckmann’s approach to this work and considering its importance in relation to his other paintings. Editor: The pleasure was all mine.