Der Schlittschuhläufer. 1922.
Lithograph.
Gallwitz 186; Hofmaier 217B. Signed. Copy 80/100. On firm wove paper. 49 x 37 cm (19,2 x 14,5 in). Sheet: 68 x 53 cm (26,8 x 20,8 in).
Sheet 5 from the series: "Berliner Reise". Ptrinted by C.Naumann's Druckerei, Frankfurt a.M. and published by J.B. Neumann, Berlin.
Other copies are in possession of, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Kupferstichkabinett at the Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

In April 1922 Max Beckmann wrote to Reinhard Piper "Berlin in 1922 is, to some extent, an addition of "Hölle", in moral terms they belong together" (James Hofmaier, Max Beckmann, Bern 1990, vol.II p.545). The series "Berliner Reise 1922" was made in the days of his great print cycles, such as "Die Hölle" and "Der Jahrmarkt". This sheet of the "Der Schlittschuhläufer" is a prime example of Beckmann's ambivalent imagery. The dangers of ice skating become an allegory for the social insecurities of the days. [EH]