Max Beckmann (GERMAN, 1884-1950)
Day & Dream
Portfolio with complete text and 15 lithographs
1946
Signed in pencil, lower margin (each)
Numbered 77/100 in pencil, lower margin (each)
Justification page with the stamp number 77
Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 12 inches (sheets) (40 x 30 cm)
Full margins
With the grey linen portfolio case
Published by Curt Valentin, New York
Hofmaier 357-71
Pale, minor toning to sheets, slip cover with some staining and splitting at spine
A record value for this work at auction is at Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg for $22,436
Contact department for full condition report

Commissioned by New York gallerist, Curt Valentin, this was Beckmann's first attempt in printmaking in four years and was also his last. The "Day & Dream" portfolio represents the Real versus the Imaginary. Beckmann used a variety of subjects, weaving autobiographical elements with biblical and mythological tales, scenes of sexual conflict with oblivious lovers dancing and children who refuse to eat their soup.

This portfolio is complete with fifteen lithographs, full text and the justification page. Each lithograph is signed and numbered 77/100 in pencil. The Justification page also has the number 77 stamped out of the edition of 100. The portfolio has its original grey linen case and is in good condition with minor wear along the spine.

Max Beckmann (GERMAN, 1884-1950)

Max Beckmann was born in Leipzig in 1884. He studied at the Ducal Collage of Art in Weimar between 1900 and 1903. In 1905 he moved to Berlin where he joined the Berlin Secession. In 1910 he was voted the youngest board member of the Berlin Secession. In 1913 Paul Cassirer organized a large retrospective of Beckmann’s work with a total of fourty-seven paintings. A year later he was awarded the Villa Romana prize, which afforded him a yearlong study trip in Florence. In the First World War he volunteered as a paramedic. During this time he started sketching many impressions of the war. In 1933 the Nazis dismissed him from his teaching position in Paris. In 1937 his work was classified ‘degenerate art’ and over 500 works were pulled out of public German institutions. The artist emigrated to Paris and later to the Netherlands shortly after and in 1947 he emigrated to the United States.