print
- Museum number
- 1979,0512.1
- Title
-
Object: Der Ausrufer (Selbstbildnis) (The Barker (Self-Portrait))
-
Series: Der jahrmarkt (The Annual Fair)
- Description
-
Plate 1: The crier (self-portrait); head and shoulders of man with bell summoning custom to fair. 1921
Drypoint
- Production date
- 1921
- Dimensions
-
Height: 335 millimetres
-
Width: 255 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Text from Frances Carey and Antony Griffiths, 'The Print in Germany 1880-1933', BM 1984, no.152
'Der Jahrmarkt' (The Fair) is a set of ten drypoints made in 1921, commissioned and published by Maier-Graefe and Reinhard Piper in 1922 in a large edition as the 36th publication of the Marées-Gesellschaft. Seventy-five sets were on Japan, and 125 on ordinary laid paper. The plates all show scenes set in a fairground, which is seen in an allusive symbolic sense as a microcosm of society.
By the early 1920s Beckmann's bafflingly complex private system of allegory was already highly developed, and this series is probably its most striking manifestation in his prints.
In this introductory first plate to the series Beckmann shows a self-portrait as a crier with a bell summoning custom to his fair, the 'Circus Beckmann' which is advertised on the placard behind. The same idea is found on the title-page of 'Die Hölle', and derives from Wedekind, who uses the device of the animal-tamer introducing the cast in his 'Lulu' plays. Such a parallel with Wedekind is actually made in the prospectus advertising the series issued by the Marées-Gesellschaft in 1922 (presumably written by Meier-Graefe). Dix also made a set of prints entitled 'Zirkus' in 1922 (Karsch 32-41).
Additional Comment:
The portfolio was accompanied by a booklet with title pages and colophon.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1984 May-Jul, London, Tate Gallery, 'Beckmann's Carnival'
1984/5 Sept-Jan, BM, 'The Print in Germany 1880-1933', no. 152
2000 May-July, Brighton Mus. & Art Gallery, 'Carnivalesque'
2000 July-Sept, Nottingham Castle Museum, 'Carnivalesque'
2000 Oct-Dec. Edinburgh, City Art Centre, 'Carnivalesque'
- Acquisition date
- 1979
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1979,0512.1
