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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1955.174.A-C
People
Max Beckmann, German (Leipzig, Germany 1884 - 1950 New York, N.Y., USA)
Title
Actors
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Schauspieler
Former Title: The Actors
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1941-1942
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/300054

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
left panel: 199.4 x 83.7 cm (78 1/2 x 32 15/16 in.)
center panel: 199.4 × 150 cm (78 1/2 × 59 1/16 in.)
right panel: 199.4 × 83.7 cm (78 1/2 × 32 15/16 in.)
overall framed: 207.3 × 341.9 × 6.4 cm (81 5/8 × 134 5/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Beckmann A 42

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The artist (until 1946,) sold; [through Buchholz Gallery, New York, New York (1946-47)], to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, (1947-1955), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1955.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Accession Year
1955
Object Number
1955.174.A-C
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • The Actors by Beckmann, exh. cat., Buchholz Gallery (New York, NY, 1946), Cat. No. 3, ill.
  • Max Beckmann Retrospective Exhibition, exh. cat., City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis, MO, 1948), no. 30, repr. pp. 68-69; checklist p. 96
  • Max Beckmann, Tagebücher 1940-1950, A. Langen-G. Müller (Munich, Germany, 1955), see May 1941-July 1942
  • Charles Scott Chetham, [Unidentified article], Fogg Art Museum Annual Report 1955-1956, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1956), pps. 54, 62-64, reproduced in b/w p. 55
  • Stephan Lackner, Max Beckmann 1884-1950 Die Neun Triptychen, Im Safari-Verlag (Berlin, Germany, 1965), pps. 16-19, reproduced in color p. 17
  • Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, 1967), n.p.
  • Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY, 1967), cat.. 41
  • Charles S. Kessler, Max Beckmann's Triptychs, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1970), pps. 51-62, 99, 106; reproduced in color facing p. 51
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, "The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard: the Germanic Tradition", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 403-413, p. 410, repr. p. 409 as fig. 6 [all three parts of triptych]
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), p. 20, repr.
  • William Feaver, "Max Beckmann's Theatre of Disguises and Burlesques", Art News (March 1981), reproduced in b/w, p. 147
  • Max Beckmann: The Triptychs, exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery (London, England, 1981), reproduced in color opposite p. 46 and color detail p. 17; text, p. 17-18
  • Laszlo Glozer, Westkunst: Zeitgenössische Kunst seit 1939, exh. cat., DuMont (Cologne, Germany, 1981), reproduced in b/w no. 36, p. 343
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, ed., Deutsche Kunst des 20. jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1983), reproduced in b/w XI 8, p. 219
  • Carla Hoffmann-Schulz and Judith C. Weitz, ed., Max Beckmann: Retrospective, exh. cat., St. Louis Art Museum and Prestel-Verlag (St. Louis, MO and Munich, Germany, 1984), pp. 43, 125, 463, fig. 20, detail, fig. 8, ill. (b/w)
  • Caroline A. Jones, Modern Art at Harvard: The Formation of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press, 1985). With an essay by John Coolidge and a preface by John M. Rosenfield. To accompany the inaugural exhibition at the Sackler Museum, Oct 21 1985 - Jan 5 1986, reproduced in color fig. 97, p. 102
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 382, p. 319, repr. in b/w
  • Von Heinz Jatho, Max Beckmann: Schauspieler-Triptychon, Insel Verlag (Baden-Baden, 1989), Fold-out color ill. in back
  • Max Beckmann in Exile, exh. cat., Guggenheim Museum Publications (New York, NY, 1996), detail on cover; central panel p. 63; full repro. cat. no. 11; credits, p. 143.
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Reinhard Spieler, Max Beckmann: Bildwelt und Weltbilt in den Triptychen, DuMont Buchverlag (Cologne, Germany, 1998), pp. 26-27, ill. (color)
  • Pia Gottschaller, "Max Beckmann: His Painting Materials and Technique" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 1998), Unpublished, pp. 1-33 passim
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 5, fig. 20; pp. 48-49 (repr. color), 306, 374
  • Sean Rainbird, ed., Max Beckmann, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2003), pp. 142, 200-201, cat. no. 107, ill. (color)
  • Stephen Diederich and Paola Malavassi, ed., Max Beckmann, Fernand Léger: Unerwartete Begegnungen, Museum Ludwig and DuMont Literatur und Kunst Verlag (Cologne, 2005), p. 113
  • Beatrice von Bormann, Max Beckmann in Amsterdam 1937-1947, exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, 2007), pp. 53, 56
  • Pinakothek der Moderne, ed., Max Beckmann: Exile in Amsterdam, exh. cat., Hatje Cantz Verlag (Munich, 2007), pp. 48, 51-52, 95, 100, 186-189, fig. 12, ill. (color)
  • Deborah Schultz and Edward Timms, Politics and Pictorial Narrative in the Nazi Period: Autobiographical motifs in the paintings of Felix Nussbaum, Taylor and Francis Group (2008), p. 245, fig. 21
  • Peter Chametzky, Objects as History in Twentieth Century German Art: Beckmann to Beuys, University of California Press (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 2010), pp. 26-27, ill. (black and white)
  • Susanne Petri and Hans-Werner Schmidt, Max Beckmann: Von Angesicht zu Angesicht, exh. cat., Hatje Cantz and Museum der bildenden Kunste Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany, 2011), pp. 38-41, 43, 45-46, 48, 53, ill. (color)
  • "Für Max Beckmann war die Welt ein Theater", website, 2017, lead image, ill. (color)
  • Lynette Roth, Max Beckmann: The World as a Stage, exh. cat., ed. Kunsthalle Bremen and Museum Barberini, Prestel (Munich, London, New York, 2017), pp. 74-75, 109, 122-123, 211, fig. 8 (cat. 31), ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • The Actors by Beckmann, Buchholz Gallery, 11/19/1946 - 12/07/1946
  • 20th Century Abstract Painting and Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 04/16/1947 - 05/18/1947
  • Max Beckmann Retrospective Exhibition, City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, 05/01/1948 - 05/31/1948; Busch-Reisinger Museum, 12/06/1948 - 01/07/1949
  • Max Beckmann Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/23/1956 - 05/19/1956
  • Max Beckmann, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 10/01/1964 - 11/15/1964; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 12/14/1964 - 01/31/1965; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 03/12/1965 - 04/11/1965; Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, 05/10/1965 - 07/04/1965; Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt, 07/15/1965 - 09/09/1965; Tate Britain, London, 09/25/1965 - 11/08/1965
  • Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Fogg Art Museum, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 05/08/1967 - 06/11/1967
  • Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 10/12/1967 - 12/03/1967
  • Max Beckmann 1884-1950: The Triptychs, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 11/11/1980 - 12/31/1980; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 01/01/1981 - 02/28/1981; Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 04/15/1981 - 06/21/1981
  • Beckmann Triptych, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 11/11/1980 - 12/31/1980
  • Contemporary Art since 1939, Museum of the City of Cologne, Cologne, 05/30/1981 - 08/16/1981
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/21/1985 - 01/05/1986
  • Hinter der Buhne (Backstage): Max Beckmann 1950, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, 07/20/1990 - 09/19/1990; Stadtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 10/10/1990 - 01/13/1991
  • Max Beckmann in Exile, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 10/09/1996 - 01/15/1997
  • Max Beckmann, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 06/25/2003 - 09/30/2003
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • Max Beckmann in Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 04/06/2007 - 08/19/2007; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munchen, 09/13/2007 - 01/27/2008
  • 32Q: 1330 Mid-Century Figurative, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 08/11/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/26/2018 - 07/13/2021
  • Max Beckmann: The World as a Stage, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, 09/30/2017 - 02/04/2018; Museum Barberini, Potsdam, 02/23/2018 - 06/10/2018
  • Max Beckmann: Spaces, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 01/27/2024 - 05/20/2024

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu