1955.174.A-C: Actors

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)
• Universum Max Beckmann, exh. cat., Waanders Uitgevers and Kunstmuseum Den Haag (Zwolle, The Hague, 2024), Cover, pp. 108-109, 128, 167, 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