Portrait of Heinrich Simon by Max Beckmann

Lithograph, 1922.

Portrait of Heinrich Simon

Art work details

Original Title :
Bildnis Heinrich Simon
Year of production :
1922
Artist:
Max Beckmann
Medium :
Original print, Lithograph
Materials:
Ink, Paper
Dimensions :
height: 58.5 cms; width: 40 cms
Credit Line :
Purchased from Mrs Margaret Fisher
Copyright :
© DACS 2013.
Catalogue References:
Glaser 198. Gallwitz 193. Hofmaier 224 B b.
Associated Groups :
Berliner Secession
Tags:
Lithograph, Weimar Republic, Portrait, Beckmann

Heinrich Simon was Editor-in-Chief of the Frankfurter Zeitung, a liberal and democratic newspaper free of party influence. The paper championed modern art, poetry and drama. In 1931, he said:

“It is good to remember that time in which the advocates of freedom, the advocates of a humane Germany, experienced hostility and persecution. It is good to remember that these persecutions did not cause them to surrender a single iota of their convictions…This newspaper has lived, to this day, on the belief in this other Germany of freedom and humanity.”

Beckmann’s portrait shows Simon with a penetrating gaze, cigarette in hand and dressed in a well-cut suit, perhaps about to address an editorial meeting. The large head and staring eyes stop just short of caricature, whilst energising the sitter.

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