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Art Talk Live: Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait in Tuxedo

This painting shows a man wearing a tuxedo. His left arm is bent at waist level, and he is holding a cigarette. His right arm is bent in a forty-degree angle, and his hand is on his right hip. His face is partly in shadow. Behind him to the left is a black space, with a brown doorframe. Behind the figure is a larger light gray area.
Max Beckmann, German, Self-Portrait in Tuxedo, 1927. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund, BR41.37. © Max Beckmann/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Germany.

Gallery Talk

Harvard Art Museums

This talk was recorded. Please view the video here.

In this talk, curator Lynette Roth takes a close look at Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait in Tuxedo (1927), examining its institutional, art historical, and cultural-political significance in order to ask the question: what can this enigmatic, nearly century-old painting by a German artist tell us today?

Led by:
Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum and Head, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art

This free talk will take place online via Zoom. To join, follow this link: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/98255230364 (pre-registration not required).

Art Talks Live offer an up-close look at works from our collections with our team of curators, conservators, fellows, and graduate students. Presented live via Zoom on every other Thursday afternoon at 2pm, these short interactive talks—along with our Art Talks video series—investigate artists’ materials and techniques, reveal our latest discoveries, offer a fresh look at old favorites, and explore big ideas.

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