The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Hell: The Street

Hell: The Street

1919
(German, 1884–1950)
Sheet: 83.2 x 65.2 cm (32 3/4 x 25 11/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

After World War I, Max Beckmann produced a portfolio of lithographs under the title Die Holle (Hell). Its publication coincided with civil unrest including heavy street fighting during the so-called November Riots of 1918 that followed Germany’s defeat. Here, the caricatured faces and cropped, overpacked, and stage-like composition portray the ideologues, the war-maimed, the famished, and the deranged. One of Beckmann’s contemporaries, the art historian Paul Schmidt, wrote that it signaled the artist’s new role as a prophet. This aligned with Beckmann’s self-stated aim to expose the “ghastly cry of the poor disillusioned people.”
  • Peters, Emily J. "Graphic Discontent: The German Expressionists strove for spontaneity and unexpected results.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58. no. 1 (January/February 2018): Cover, 5-7, 22. Reproduced: P. 7; Mentioned: P. 6, 7.
  • Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=Hell: The Street |url=false|author=Max Beckmann|year=1919|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.355