Double Portrait, 1923

Dimensions: 80.3 x 65.0 cm

Physical Description: Oil on canvas

Inventory Number: SG 348

Acquisition: Acquired in 1924 as a gift from the artist, Withdrawn 1937, Restituted 1951

Status: Not on display

Texts

About the Work

The depiction conveys a certain unease: the composition forces the two women into a spatial proximity that only reinforces the viewer’s impression of their distanced relationship. Marie Swarzenski, wife of his patron and then Städel director Georg Swarzenski, and the latter’s secretary, Carola Netter, sat separately as models for the painting – for Beckmann to then unite them in one portrait. Marie Swarzenski’s angular features and stiff posture on the right appear austere in comparison to Carola Netter’s soft facial expression on the left. Beckmann also used the colour contrast of the dresses to emphasise the differences between the women, whose personalities can barely unfold in the narrow painting.

About the Acquisition

A resident of Frankfurt from 1915 onwards, Max Beckmann taught a master class at the Städelschule from 1925 to 1933. It was in this period that he became one of Germany’s best-known and most successful painters. Frankfurt’s Städtische Galerie cultivated an especially intensive relationship to Beckmann. Between 1919 and 1933 the collection purchased altogether thirteen of his paintings. In 1924 it received this personal work from the artist as a gift.

Audio

Basic information

01:11
Focus on Frankfurt

01:19
Focus on art history

01:48

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: Double Portrait

Painter

Max Beckmann

Production Place

Frankfurt am Main

Period Produced

20th century

School

expressionism

Object Type

painting (artwork)

Physical Description: Oil on canvas

Material

canvas

Technique

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Signiert und datiert oben rechts: Beckmann F. 23.

Work Catalogues

Göpel 2021, Nr. 222

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Modern Art 1800–1945

Collection

Städtische Galerie

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: Public Domain

Acquisition: Acquired in 1924 as a gift from the artist, Withdrawn 1937, Restituted 1951

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

portrait

Main Motif

Persons Shown

Iconclass

Primary

61BB2(SWARZENSKI, Marie)12(+54) historical person (SWARZENSKI, Marie) - BB - woman - historical person (SWARZENSKI, Marie) in a double-portrait (+ three-quarter length portrait)
61BB2(NETTER, Carola)12(+54) historical person (NETTER, Carola) - BB - woman - historical person (NETTER, Carola) in a double-portrait (+ three-quarter length portrait)
31AA235 sitting figure - AA - female human figure

Secondary

31AA513 making up - AA - (for) women
41D211(EVENING DRESS) dress, gown: evening dress
41D266 ornaments, jewels
41D262 fan
41A721 chair
34B11 dog
41A673 potted plants
48C5156 frame of painting, etc.

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Frankfurt

laut Eintrag im Inventarbuch geschenkt „als Überweisung des Direktors“ an die Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, 1924

laut Eintrag im Inventarbuch „vom Schenker zurückgezogen,“ vor 1938

…

Depot des „Instituts zur Erforschung der Judenfrage,“ Hungen, 1943

Offenbach Archival Depot, ca. 1945

Central Collecting Point, Wiesbaden, 21. Februar 1946

Übergabe an die Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, Nürnberg, 4. Juli 1951

Übergabe an die Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, November 1951.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: