Self-Portrait with Stylus (Selbstbildnis mit Griffel)
about 1916
2006.63
Not currently on view
Artwork Details
Portfolio Title
Printer
Publisher
Artist
Printer
Creation Date
Materials
Object Types
Dimensions
11-9/16 x 9-3/16 in. (image) 17-3/4 x 14-1/2 in. (sheet)
Mark Description
Signed in pencil, below image, lower right: Beckmann Blindstamp, below image, lower left: Zeus and Ganymede (Marées-Gesellschaft
Accession Number
Credit Line
Gift of Edwin F. Koch, Jr., M.D.
Copyright
Collection
Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Color Palette
Provenance
(Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago); purchased by Dr. Edwin F. Koch, Jr., Muncie, in 1975; donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2006
Gallery Labels
- Beckmann captures himself in the act of creating this very image. Looking into the mirror, he holds a stylus in one hand and supports a metal plate with the other. He renders his front hand in a range of positions by showing the fingers both bent and extended.
- The melancholy look in Beckmann’s eyes hints at the nervous breakdown he suffered the year before while volunteering as a medical orderly in World War I. It was at this time that he switched his preferred printmaking medium to drypoint. He preferred this technique—scratching an image straight into the plate with rapid, slashing strokes—as a way to directly express strong emotions in his art.
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