Catalogue raisonné: This work will be included into the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Max Beckmann’s drawings, currently compiled by Hedda Finke and Stephan Wiese.
Provenance:
the artist’s studio (until 1950)
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York
Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin), New York (until 1955)
Private collection, New Jersey (until 1964)
Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg (6 June 1964, lot 325)
Private collection, Hamburg (until 1976)
Collection Hermann Heidtmann, Bad Homburg
Galerie Joseph Fach, Frankfurt am Main
Collection Volhard, Frankfurt am Main (1987–2025)
Max Beckmann – Lesendes Mädchen
The motif of the reading woman ranks among the most enduring subjects of 19th-century art and frequently appears as a symbol of bourgeois education: elegantly dressed women absorbed in refined leisure and the reading of serious literature. Max Beckmann adopts this traditional topos – while simultaneously setting a deliberate counterpoint.
The drawing Lesendes Mädchen (Reading Girl), preserved as a preparatory idea for the painting Frau in weißem Hemd (lesend) (Woman in a White Shirt [Reading]), executed in America in 1947 and now in the Kunst Museum Winterthur, consciously relocates the motif to a private, unrepresentative sphere. In both the drawing and the later painting, the reader appears only in her petticoat, wholly absorbed in her reading – as though a quiet moment remained for her after her morning toilette.
In the drawing, her face is still unobstructed; the blank sheet in her hands suggests a letter. In the painting, this intimate motif is further developed and subtly sharpened: instead of engaging with serious literature, the young woman immerses herself in a colourful, popular magazine, which she holds up before her face, partially concealing it. Beckmann thus transforms the classical motif of the reading woman into a distinctly modern, psychologically nuanced image of inward absorption.
Composition and Pictorial Conception
In compositional terms, Beckmann focuses entirely on figure and gesture. The young woman sits sideways on her seat, her legs crossed; the dark stockings form a striking formal accent. Her body leans slightly forward, her head inclined – the posture appears calm, concentrated and wholly self-contained.
The reader avoids any contact with the viewer. She remains entirely within her own world. The largely omitted background reinforces the impression of an undisturbed, almost timeless moment. The result is an intimate scene that resists any overtly representational gesture.
Technique and Draftsmanship
Executed in ink and pencil, the drawing combines a concise contour with nuanced hatching that models volume and shadow. Beckmann works with a fluid, assured line: the fundamental forms are clearly established, certain passages gain sculptural density, while others remain deliberately sketch-like and open.
It is precisely in this interplay between elaboration and suggestion that the sheet unfolds its particular vitality. As a preparatory work for a major painting of the late 1940s, Lesendes Mädchen compellingly demonstrates Beckmann’s mastery of drawing and his confident engagement with a longstanding motif in European art history.
