Still Life with Two Large Candles

- 1950
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), St. Louis, MO, USA; New York, NY, USA [1]

after 1950 - 1967
Ruth Judith Chase, Chevy Chase, MD, USA, purchased from the Buchholz Gallery, New York, NY, USA, likely on consignment from the artist's widow, Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY [2]

1967 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Ruth Judith Chase [3]

1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [4]


Notes:
[1] Max Beckmann kept lists of most of his paintings which often included the dates that they were worked on and notes on who purchased them. This painting appears on Beckmann's 1947 St. Louis list as number 19 [Beckmann Estate Berlin]. Beckmann notes that he started the canvas on October 23 and completed it on December 12, 1947. He does not list an owner for the painting. Although an illustration of the painting appears in connection with cat. no. 619 in the 1949 catalogue raisonné, based on the title, cat. no. 626 is more likely SLAM's painting. The work is listed as in a New York private collection, likely that of the artist. [Benno Reifenberg. "Max Beckmann." München: R. Piper & Co., 1949]. No lender is listed for the painting in a Buchholz Gallery exhibition catalogue that same year ["Max Beckmann: Recent Work" Buchholz Gallery, New York, 1949].

[2] Buchholz Gallery label on verso of painting, no. 9721. An undated list entitled "Paintings by Max Beckmann owned by Mrs. Beckmann" includes "Still Life with Orchids (9721)." This indicates that Mathilde Q. Beckmann inherited the work after Beckmann's death in 1950. Several letters, dated 1955, from Ruth and William Chase, Chevy Chase, MD, to Curt Valentin Gallery, indicate purchases, but do not mention specific artwork(s). [Curt Valentin Papers, III.B.5, The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York].

[3] Per invoice from Mrs. William Chase to Morton D. May dated January 25, 1967 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Correspondence between Ruth Judith Chase (a.k.a. Mrs. William Chase) and Morton D. May in January 1967 further confirms that May purchased the painting directly from Chase [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Göpel's catalogue raisonné erroneously cites the previous owners as Mr. & Mrs. Francis R. Boyd, also of Chevy Chase, MD, USA [Göpel, Erhard and Barbara Göpel. "Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde." Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976].

[4] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.