Max Beckmann
1884 - 1950
Beim Pferdemarkt (bei der Pferderennbahn?). 1923.
Pencil drawing.
Signed by Mayen Beckmann on the reverse and inscribed “Nachlass MQB” (MQB estate). On laid paper. 21.8 x 20 cm (8.5 x 7.8 in), size of sheet. [CH].


• From Beckmann's creative years in Frankfurt: Shortly afterwards, the artist was offered a teaching position at the Frankfurt School of Fine and Applied Arts (today: Städelschule).
• In April of the year this work was created, Beckmann spent his first spa vacation in Baden-Baden, where he would return regularly until 1937.
• The drawing offered here may also have been created in Baden-Baden, possibly at the racetrack in Iffezheim.
• From the 1920s onwards, the chic cafés and bars, but also smaller pubs and other well-frequented public places, were a great source of inspiration for the artist, who found characters here for his expressive depictions of the state of society at that time.
• Excellent provenance: formerly owned by Mathilde “Quappi” Beckmann.

The work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of drawings by Dr. Stephan von Wiese and Hedda Finke with the catalogue number 971. We are grateful for the kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Estate of Mathilde Beckmann (1904–1986), known as “Quappi” (the artist's wife, handwritten inscription on the reverse).
Fred Jahn Gallery, Munich.
Private collection Günther Förg (acquired from the above in 2000).

Multi-figure scene in good condition. The sheet is slightly creased, with small crease marks, mainly in the upper left and lower right corners and in the margins. In the center there is a slightly more pronounced diagonal crease mark. Very few tiny brown spots. On the reverse, there are a few small studio marks, slightly showing through to the recto.