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Male Nude from the Back with Sword over Shoulder

Artist Max Beckmann (German, 1884–1950)
Title Male Nude from the Back with Sword over Shoulder (Männlicher Rückenakt mit Säbel über der Schulter (see correspondence form Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in file))
Date 1911
Medium Black ink on paper
Dimensions Image: 12 7/8 × 10 3/8 in. (32.7 × 26.4 cm)
Sheet: 12 7/8 × 10 3/8 in. (32.7 × 26.4 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 85.9.4

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1976, Indiana University Art Museum purchase from Lilly Jacobson, Beverly Hills, CA [1]

1965–1976, Collection of Ernest (1899–1972) and Lilly Jacobson (1910–2000), Beverly Hills, CA (purchase by Ernst Jacobson from Karl & Faber) [2]

October 20–21, 1965, Sale, “Auktion 97,” Karl & Faber, Munich (lot. no. 1061, as “Männlicher Akt”)

before 1965, Private Collection (“Koller”), location unknown [3]

Notes:

[1] Although the drawing was officially accessioned into the museum’s collection in 1985 (after being rediscovered in storage), it was purchased by the museum in 1976 as part of a large acquisition of prints and drawings from Lilly Jacobson.

[2] Lilly Hirsch Jacobson (née Kaufmann) fled Speyer, Germany with her first husband, Otto Hirsch (1901–1953) and their two young daughters in 1936; the family settled in Los Angeles, where she later married Ernest Jacobson in 1962. Jacobson was also a Jewish refugee from Germany. Whether either party was already collecting art prior to their arrival in the United States, or brought art with them to the United States, is unknown. Ernst Jacobson was known to have purchased at least two drawings by Beckmann through the Munich auction house Karl & Faber, Munich by 1965, including this one (Email correspondence on July 6, 2017, from Hedda Finke, researcher with the Werkverzeichnis der Zeichnungen Max Beckmanns; transcript in curatorial files).

[3] Koller is the name of the seller who consigned the drawing with Karl & Faber (per correspondence with Hedda Finke, as above).


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Male Nude from the Back with Sword over Shoulder | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=85.9.4