Art Funded by you

Eight works on paper, five drawings and three prints

Max Beckmann, 1922-46

These drawings and prints were acquired by the Austrian-born painter Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (1906-96) through her lifelong friendship with the German artist Max Beckmann and his second wife, Matilde von Kaulbach, known as Quappi.  

Beckmann first encountered the Motesiczky family in Vienna in 1920, meeting Quappi at their apartment in 1923. His double portrait of her and Marie-Louise (pictured) dates from the year of his marriage to Quappi in 1925. Marie-Louise, whom he had drawn by herself, shortly before, went on to attend Beckmann’s masterclass in Frankfurt in 1927-28. 

The Beckmanns left Germany for Holland in 1937, where Marie-Louise met them when she and her mother left Vienna immediately after the Nazi annexation of Austria on 12 March 1938. For her birthday in October that year, Beckmann gave her a sketch, On the Beach,  that he had made during his honeymoon with Quappi.  

Marie-Louise went on to England, returning to Holland after the war. Her visit in 1947, just before the Beckmanns left for the US, was marked by the dedication to her of another drawing, Man with a Candle.  

This biographical group of work complements the British Museum’s existing holdings of 13 drawings and more than 40 prints by Beckmann, as well as the six drawings by Motesiczky and one etching by Beckmann gifted by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust. 

More information

Title of artwork, date

Eight works on paper, five drawings and three prints, 1922-46

Date supported

2021

Medium and material

Drawings and prints on paper

Dimensions

Various dimensions

Grant

45000

Total cost

81500

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