Nicht identifizierte Skizze, Karussell? (Sketch of Merry-go-round, Perhaps) [p. 69] 1918 - 1919

Curator: What a jumble of lines! It looks like pure energy on paper, a frantic attempt to capture something fleeting. Editor: Yes, that energy certainly translates. But beneath it, I see something darker—a frantic kind of desperation. This is Max Beckmann’s “Nicht identifizierte Skizze, Karussell? (Sketch of Merry-go-round, Perhaps)” made between 1918 and 1919, toward the end of the First World War. Curator: So a tentative title… I like how the uncertainty already opens up the possibilities for interpretation. A merry-go-round, if it is one, usually speaks to cyclical experiences of childish joy. I wonder about the artist’s association there... Editor: But what happens when that cycle becomes trapped or broken? It reminds me of how the concept of childhood innocence became challenged and, at times, lost amid the horrific violence of that war. There is a profound disillusionment embedded here in what might otherwise be a straightforward figure. Curator: I think that fits neatly. The lines are scratchy and chaotic, nothing smooth about that potential joyful childish theme you brought up. I do wonder if the crudeness emphasizes a certain immediacy— perhaps these frantic lines of charcoal represent what a memory looks and feels like? It's clearly a quick sketch. Editor: I am in complete agreement. What looks like the carousel’s movement becomes emblematic of something more profound in Beckmann's oeuvre: the instability of interwar Germany. In that regard, the sketch appears raw, unrefined, unfinished, which heightens its historical and political value to us now. Curator: I concur— the crudeness of line certainly communicates the artist’s response to a fracturing world. Editor: It makes you consider: How did society’s memory shift after experiencing such profound levels of industrial trauma and violence, and how is that shift reflected through art? Curator: Exactly. The war altered everything. This sketch now reads like a ghost of a merry-go-round, the ghostly symbol of trauma rather than enjoyment. Editor: I see this tentative drawing as holding multiple, conflicting memories of loss and perhaps lost potential. And it serves as a critical touchpoint from which to contemplate larger conversations of identity and memory through times of conflict. Curator: Agreed—the rapid, looping lines offer us just enough to reconstruct our own understanding and associations. Editor: Ultimately, the ambiguity in this sketch becomes its strength, inviting viewers to contemplate themes of fragmentation, disillusionment, and social change.