Mann mit erhobenem Arm (Man with a Raised Hand) [p. 68] 

Editor: So, this is a drawing called "Man with a Raised Hand," and although it doesn't have a precise date, it’s by Max Beckmann. Looking at the graphite lines on paper, I'm struck by how unfinished it feels. What can you tell me about this sketch? Curator: Look at the materiality of the drawing. The visible graphite smudges, the quick, almost frantic lines. This isn’t just about depicting a man; it’s about the very act of creation, the labor involved. It challenges our notions of artistic value by presenting process as product. What do you make of that upraised hand in the social context of expressionism? Editor: I guess it seems… symbolic. Maybe a cry for help, or an act of defiance? Curator: Or perhaps a gesture rooted in the artist’s physical struggle with the materials. Expressionism, born from social upheaval, gave voice to the anxieties of the working class through raw emotion. Could this raised hand represent the artist wrestling with the weight of that history, etching it into the page with graphite mined and manufactured? The paper itself— where did it come from? The cheap sketchbook quality adds to that materiality; this is about utility, sketches, the raw guts of making, not about refined beauty in a traditional sense. What does it suggest about art consumption when something like this becomes an object of study? Editor: That's fascinating; I never considered where the paper came from, or how the very roughness contributes to the artwork's message. I now see a piece much more grounded in reality. Curator: Exactly! It's about engaging with art as labor, as a material product of specific social conditions, rather than something purely ethereal. It reminds us of the system of artistic production itself. Editor: Thanks, I'm definitely walking away with a fresh perspective. Curator: Likewise; your initial impression helps us appreciate its potential to be about that direct engagement with material and societal realities.