Skizze mit Fensterausblick (Sketch with View from Window) [p. 10] 

Curator: Here we have a piece by Max Beckmann entitled "Skizze mit Fensterausblick," which translates to "Sketch with View from Window." It's an ink drawing on paper. Editor: Immediately, the frenetic energy strikes me. The ink lines are so raw, so urgent. It feels less like a composed view and more like a capture of fleeting impressions. Curator: Absolutely, and that's very much in line with Beckmann's expressionist style. The window view, or perhaps even the portrait, is almost secondary to the expression of emotion conveyed by the frantic marks. Editor: I wonder about the paper itself. Notice the texture, or what we can make out of it. It doesn't seem like high-quality artist paper, more like a notebook page, which underscores the immediacy, this need to just get the image out of his head. It suggests an unfiltered access to the artist’s most instinctive processes. Curator: Indeed. This work wasn’t created for formal display, not like the oil paintings we usually associate with Beckmann. This drawing is not only aesthetically relevant on its own but can also reveal the public role of his art at the time. This might also provide us with the politics of imagery through portraiture, though it is a mere sketch of such notions. Editor: It highlights something critical that is so easily ignored in museums, this relentless process of making—and more specifically the labor involved in the artwork’s creation. And the kind of art supplies available would’ve also played a key part in the creative outcome. It seems simple and quick, yet it holds its value because of the sheer intensity in the application. Curator: Also, the institutional status around this sketch being accepted to become part of museum collections elevates the cultural role that seemingly simple sketches can play in modernism and its different receptions over the years. Editor: I agree, especially when we remember that these are hardly mere idle sketches but serious labor. It adds weight to it. What seems like an effortless piece actually involved labor, material considerations and intellectual processing. It brings it all together in something tangible. Curator: Examining works such as "Skizze mit Fensterausblick" allows a closer understanding of an artist’s raw expression. Editor: And for me, it really speaks to the fundamental act of creation and the artistic labour behind even the quickest sketch.