Der Eiserne Steg, 1922
Max Beckmann
Information
Artist
Max Beckmann
1884
Leipzig, Deutschland
1950
New York, USA
Work data
Material/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Image: 120,5 × 84,5 cm
Frame: 142 × 106 × 6 cm
Signature
Bez. u.r.: "Beckmann F 22"
Accession Number
0212
Catalogue Raisonné
Göpel 215
Acquisition year
1978
Provenance
The whereabouts of the painting “Der Eiserne Steg” by Max Beckmann from 1922 were indicated by the artist himself on his list of paintings with the note “Neumann.” There is evidence that J. B. Neumann had owned the painting since 1925, the year in which the art dealer concluded a three-year exclusive contract with Beckmann guaranteeing him the right to sell it. The painting presumably belonged to his consignment from then on. The catalogue raisonné compiled by Erhard and Barbara Göpel lists the art dealer Alfred Flechtheim alongside J. B. Neumann as the provenance. Flechtheim represented Beckmann together with J. B. Neumann from 1928 to August 1930 on the basis of a contract concluded in October 1927. However, the painting can only be traced to J. B. Neumann; even at a Beckmann exhibition at the Flechtheim Gallery in Berlin in 1928, it is marked “I. B. Neumann.” The work was part of the first Beckmann exhibition in Paris at Galerie de la Renaissance. The exhibition took place from March to April 1931. It was then presented at Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels until the end of May 1931. The painting was presumably sent from Brussels to Galerie Bing in Paris for sale on consignment although there is no evidence of this. It was last mentioned in a letter from the art dealer Günther Franke to Beckmann dated June 22, 1931, in which he stated that he was unaware of the whereabouts of the work. From then, the work remained lost. Various sources name Heinrich Fromm as the sole owner of the painting at the time of its loss. It did not reappear on the Paris art market until the 1960s and was purchased by the art dealer Richard L. Feigen from the estate of Géo Charles. The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen purchased the painting “Der Eiserne Steg” from the Serge Sarbarsky Gallery in New York in 1978.
Credit line
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Exhibitions
- Max Beckmann, 19.7.-22.9.1990, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig/Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt
- Max Beckmann, 9.2.-13.4.1996, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma
- Max Beckmann, 6.3.-7.6.1997, Fundación Juan March, Madrid
- Unser 20. Jahrhundert - Meisterwerke von Picasso bis Beuys, 14.7.-28.10.2000, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
- Der kühle Blick Realismus der zwanziger Jahre, 31.5.-1.9.2001, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, München
- Max Beckmann. Un peintre dans l'histoire, 9.9.2002-3.1.2003, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris
- Max Beckmann, 24.6.-29.9.2003, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Dialog der Meisterwerke. Hoher Besuch zum Jubiläum, 6.10.2015-16.1.2016, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Service
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