plate 4: Martyrdom
- Date
- 1919
- Material
- Lithograph
- published in
- Berlin, Berlin state, Germany, Europe
- made in
- Frankfurt am Main, Hessen state, Germany, Europe
- printed in
- Frankfurt am Main, Hessen state, Germany, Europe
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 21 7/16 x 29 5/8 in. (54.5 x 75.2 cm)
sheet: 23 1/4 x 33 3/4 in. (59.1 x 85.7 cm)
framed: 31 1/8 x 41 1/8 in. (79.1 x 104.5 cm) - Credit Line
- Neumann/Frumkin Collection, purchased with funds provided by the bequest of Morton D. May, by exchange, the bequest of Florene M. Schoenborn in honor of her father, David May, by exchange, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Museum Shop Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Lester A. Crancer Jr., Phoebe and Mark Weil, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, Mr. and Mrs. David C. Farrell, the Julian and Hope Edison Print Fund, gift of George Rickey, by exchange, bequest of Helen K. Baer, by exchange, Suzanne and Jerry Sincoff, Museum Shop Fund, by exchange, gift of the Buchholz Gallery, by exchange, Museum Purchase, by exchange, Jerome F. and Judith Weiss Levy, bequest of Horace M. Swope, by exchange, and funds given by Fielding Lewis Holmes through the 1988 Art Enrichment Fund, by exchange
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 404:2002
NOTES
This print shows the Freikorps, the volunteer soldiers who served as the domestic military force from 1919 to 1920, in the act of assassinating Rosa Luxemburg, an early founder of the German Communist Party. Max Beckmann expressed his leftist sympathies by entitling the print The Martrydom and by depicting Luxemburg with outstretched arms, recalling traditional images of Christ's deposition from the Cross. This is one of eleven lithographs from the portfolio "Die Hölle" (or "Hell"), which was Max Beckmann's greatest achievement in narrative printmaking. It depicts the widespread famine, weakened morale, armed conflict, and social unrest in German cities immediately after World War I.
Provenance
by 1999 - 2002
Allan Frumkin, Chicago, IL; New York, NY, purchased at auction [1]
2002 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Allan Frumkin [2]
Notes:
[1] In a letter dated November 16, 2001 to Francesca Consagra at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Allan Frumkin indicates that while he acquired the core of his Beckmann collection from the dealer and gallery owner I.B. Neumann during the late fifties, he also purchased some prints after the late fifties at auction [SLAM document files]. Included on the Frumkin Collection list dated November 17, 2001, together with the above-mentioned letter are seven lithographs from the "Hell" portfolio, which Frumkin annotates as having been purchased at auction. This impression along with four others from the series are not listed. Frumkin mentions, however, that he did not have a master list of the prints and that there were probably omissions, since he was forced to work from memory. It is likely that he acquired this impression at the same time as the other prints in the portfolio. Name of the auction house and date of sale are at this time unknown.
In 1999, this print was on loan to the Saint Louis Art Museum, loan number 1999.511 [loan agreement dated August 12, 1999, SLAM document files].
[2] See Purchase Agreement dated October 15, 2002 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 30, 2002, and Minutes of the Board of Commissioners, Saint Louis Art Museum, October 14, 2002.
Allan Frumkin, Chicago, IL; New York, NY, purchased at auction [1]
2002 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Allan Frumkin [2]
Notes:
[1] In a letter dated November 16, 2001 to Francesca Consagra at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Allan Frumkin indicates that while he acquired the core of his Beckmann collection from the dealer and gallery owner I.B. Neumann during the late fifties, he also purchased some prints after the late fifties at auction [SLAM document files]. Included on the Frumkin Collection list dated November 17, 2001, together with the above-mentioned letter are seven lithographs from the "Hell" portfolio, which Frumkin annotates as having been purchased at auction. This impression along with four others from the series are not listed. Frumkin mentions, however, that he did not have a master list of the prints and that there were probably omissions, since he was forced to work from memory. It is likely that he acquired this impression at the same time as the other prints in the portfolio. Name of the auction house and date of sale are at this time unknown.
In 1999, this print was on loan to the Saint Louis Art Museum, loan number 1999.511 [loan agreement dated August 12, 1999, SLAM document files].
[2] See Purchase Agreement dated October 15, 2002 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 30, 2002, and Minutes of the Board of Commissioners, Saint Louis Art Museum, October 14, 2002.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.