Redaktionszimmer 1924

Max Beckmann made this drawing of a newsroom, sometime in the first half of the 20th century, with what looks like a soft pencil. See how Beckmann finds the scene by using repeated marks to define these figures and the space around them? Nothing is precise, it’s all becoming. Look closely, and you can see the smudging of the pencil lead on the paper, the texture of the page shining through. This is a quick sketch, not laboured, and there is so much energy in the drawing, the feeling of life observed on the run. My eye is drawn to the figure to the right, the bald man perched on a stool, thinking hard. I love how he seems lost in thought, completely unaware of all the activity around him. It makes me think of Philip Guston, who shared with Beckmann a gift for expressive line work and a focus on the human figure as a vehicle for psychological exploration. For both artists, art is a space where the complexities and contradictions of human experience can be explored, without the need for resolution or certainty.