Here, at the age of thirty-two, Beckmann studies his reflection in a mirror. One hand holds a stylus while the other supports the metal plate on which he incises this very image. The melancholy eyes in his drawn face seem at odds with his formal dress of white wing collar and smoking jacket.

Beckmann took up drypoint in 1914, while volunteering as a medical orderly during World War I. He served first at the eastern front and later in Belgium but was released from his duties after he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1915. His choice of this medium had been determined by his preference for the most direct and immediate means of expression, and it was his only means at the time. As in a diary, he recorded his surroundings: views of wounded or dead soldiers, operating rooms, hospitals, and morgues.

Nineteen of his drypoints made from 1914 to 1918, including this haunting self-portrait, were selected for the portfolio Faces (1919)—now regarded as his most important series of prints.