Bildnis Benno Reifenberg, 1968

About the Work

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky came to Frankfurt from Vienna in 1927 to study under Max Beckmann at the Städelschule. He exerted a strong influence on her in her early years with regard to motifs and style alike. In 1938 Motesiczky emigrated to Holland, in 1939 to England. During the war, her predilection for portraiture crystallised. This likeness of Benno Reifenberg (1892–1970), an editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 1958 to 1966, shows the extent to which she departed from Beckmann’s style in her late work.