Masquerade
- Date
- 1948
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 213
- Dimensions
- 64 13/16 x 34 15/16 in. (164.6 x 88.7 cm)
framed: 73 5/16 in. x 43 3/8 in. x 2 in. (186.2 x 110.2 x 5.1 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr.
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 587:1958
NOTES
Beckmann was a great lover of masked balls. Here he shows two partygoers at one such revelry; they stand next to an iron balcony with a fire burning brightly behind them. The muscular man holds a fan traditionally used for playfully hitting passers-by, while the woman is a more enigmatic and sinister presence. Her yellow cat mask completely conceals her face and may allude to the association of cats with magic and sin in esoteric mythology.
Provenance
- 1950
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Saint Louis, MO, USA; New York, NY, USA [1]
1950 - 1956
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1956 - 1958
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer (d.1968), St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased from Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, NY, on consignment from Mathilde Q. Beckmann [2]
1958 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer [3]
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 1948 St. Louis list as number 2. Beckmann notes that he completed the canvas on May 14, 1948. [Beckmann Estate Berlin] The 1949 catalogue raisonné lists the painting in the collection of the artist, New York [Reifenberg, Benno, and Wilhelm Hausenstein. "Max Beckmann." Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1949, cat. no. 634].
[2] Per letter Joseph Pulitzer Jr. to Catherine Viviano dated October 28, 1958. In it, Pulitzer notes the sale date as November 1956 [Catherine Viviano Gallery records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]. See also invoice from Catherine Viviano Gallery to Joseph Pulitzer Jr., dated January 8, 1957 [SLAM document files]. After Curt Valentin's death in 1954, the artist's widow, Mathilde Q. Beckmann, consigned Beckmann's work to the Catherine Viviano Gallery [letter from Mathilde Q. Beckmann to Morton D. May, dated December 20, 1955, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Göpel's catalogue raisonné includes both Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin) and Catherine Viviano Gallery in the provenance for this painting, but both galleries simply maintained the painting on consignment from the artist or his wife [Göpel, Erhard and Barbara Göpel. "Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde." Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976, cat. no. 765].
[3] Deed of gift, signed by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and dated December 15, 1958 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control and the Advisory Committee of the City Art Museum, December 11, 1958.
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Saint Louis, MO, USA; New York, NY, USA [1]
1950 - 1956
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1956 - 1958
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer (d.1968), St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased from Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, NY, on consignment from Mathilde Q. Beckmann [2]
1958 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer [3]
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 1948 St. Louis list as number 2. Beckmann notes that he completed the canvas on May 14, 1948. [Beckmann Estate Berlin] The 1949 catalogue raisonné lists the painting in the collection of the artist, New York [Reifenberg, Benno, and Wilhelm Hausenstein. "Max Beckmann." Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1949, cat. no. 634].
[2] Per letter Joseph Pulitzer Jr. to Catherine Viviano dated October 28, 1958. In it, Pulitzer notes the sale date as November 1956 [Catherine Viviano Gallery records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]. See also invoice from Catherine Viviano Gallery to Joseph Pulitzer Jr., dated January 8, 1957 [SLAM document files]. After Curt Valentin's death in 1954, the artist's widow, Mathilde Q. Beckmann, consigned Beckmann's work to the Catherine Viviano Gallery [letter from Mathilde Q. Beckmann to Morton D. May, dated December 20, 1955, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Göpel's catalogue raisonné includes both Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin) and Catherine Viviano Gallery in the provenance for this painting, but both galleries simply maintained the painting on consignment from the artist or his wife [Göpel, Erhard and Barbara Göpel. "Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde." Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976, cat. no. 765].
[3] Deed of gift, signed by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and dated December 15, 1958 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control and the Advisory Committee of the City Art Museum, December 11, 1958.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.