Max Beckman "Still Life with Three Skulls"

Max Beckman
"Still Life with Three Skulls"
1945
Oil On Canvas



I saw this painting towards the end of our tour and thought it was very striking. For an oil canvas done in the late 40's it seemed a little out of place. I looked up Max Beckman. He was an artist of the post-expressionism era, also known as New Objectivity. This sort of art is characterized by plain, static, sustained and engrossing objects. In the era of the Nazi's, Adolf Hitler considered Beckman's art to be "degenerate", which is why I think this painting is really great. To begin with, it's themes are fairly dark. Pictured on a dresser are three skulls, some playing cards and what appears to be a bottle of booze and a gun. It uses third person perspective to show you these objects just how they should be in the style of New Objectivity: plain, static, parallel and unwaivering. The color is very thin and vague as well. It makes the tone of the painting very dark and edgy, which is certainly appropriate for the objects depicted in the painting. The style of the painting overall reinforces the objects shown. When you think of poker, skulls, guns, an alcohol, you generally think automatically of illegality, death, violence and drugs. Beckman's use of sharp strokes, fixed edges and cold imagery fit perfectly with what is being displayed in this work of art. It is also very appropriate for what we have been reading about comics, as this era of New Objectivity is influenced directly by interest in cartoon-like objects and the painting reflects this.