Männliche Bildnisstudie im Profil (Man in Profile) [p. 56] 

Curator: Here we have "Mannliche Bildnisstudie im Profil" – "Man in Profile" – from the hand of Max Beckmann. It’s a raw sketch, looks like something he might’ve dashed off in a notebook. Editor: Immediate impression? Unease. A bit menacing, perhaps. It’s the starkness of the lines, the sharp angles of that nose, the way he hasn't fully defined the eye socket...makes you wonder what’s going on behind that gaze. Curator: Exactly! I get the sense of a fleeting observation. A cafe scene perhaps. He captures something essential with very little material. Editor: Right. The very *economy* of the line speaks volumes. It's pencil, so presumably readily available, easily erased and reworked. We forget how radical drawing was, liberating artists to produce work independent of the constraints and expense of formal commissions and large-scale painting. A drawing is less "valuable" than a finished oil on canvas in the popular imagination, but arguably far more intimate, revealing, closer to the bone of creation, so to speak. Curator: Indeed. It really puts us in his headspace, doesn’t it? I almost feel like I’m sitting across from him, quickly sketching away myself, trying to capture something elusive about that profile. Notice how the man's coat looks like it melts in the emptiness... Beckmann is suggesting we fill in the gaps. Editor: Or, considering the time period—maybe this "sketchbook" practice served a clandestine purpose. Cheaper and more covert to produce subversive imagery amidst societal upheaval? He had plenty to say about what he witnessed, in times when it was risky. Curator: That’s an interesting angle. Maybe this sketch wasn’t just observation, but reconnaissance! But then, it doesn’t have the heavy emotion that some of Beckmann's paintings bear. Maybe just some random gent who triggered something in him… Editor: Still, I think thinking about art as always entwined in socio-economic factors opens new layers to its potential meanings. It wasn't all floating "inspiration." This looks to be very inexpensive paper - but the paper allows for mark making and the quick translation of an artist's ideas in accessible forms for all to see...and possibly share at scale. Curator: So, as we walk away, let’s consider the unseen hands that acquired the paper and pencil – and what fleeting moment spurred Max to create something that echoes with disquiet even now. Editor: Yes. How the constraints around artmaking, often economic and logistical, paradoxically feed art's restless creativity, its ability to bear witness to moments both public and deeply personal.