Following Klinger’s example, the German Expressionists often used printmaking to explore subject matter related to the darker side of life. Beckmann was one of numerous artists within this movement to mine the creative potential of the portfolio. The prints of Hell collectively express the nihilism and chaos of life in interwar Berlin. In Night, which was also realized as a painting shortly before the print was produced, a group of men cruelly tortures a middle-class family in their home. Coupled with the other horrific scenes of the portfolio, the image was meant to relate the psychological trauma inflicted on the German people by war and economic strife.
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Inscription: Each print: signed "Beckmann," titled, and numbered 1/75
Heinrich Stinnes, Cologne (1920–d. 1932; his estate, 1932–36; sale, Hollstein & Puppel, Berlin, May 25–27, 1936, no. 63, sold to Kail); Kail collection, Germany (1936–49; sale, Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart, October 28, 1949, no. 1441, sold to Beck); Beck collection, Stuttgart (1949–2002; their sale, Sotheby's, London, October 9, 2002, no. 432, sold to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Max Beckmann's 'Hell'," May 9–August 31, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "German Drawings and Prints from the Weimar Republic (1919–33)," July 2–October 31, 2004, no catalogue ("The Way Home," 2002.491b only).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "World War I and the Visual Arts," July 31, 2017–January 7, 2018 ("The Way Home," 2002.491b only; not in MMA Bulletin, Fall 2017).
P[aul]. F. Schmidt. "Max Beckmann's 'Hölle'." Der Cicerone 12, no. 23 (December 2, 1920), pp. 841–47, ill. ("The Street," "Hunger," "The Ideologists," "The Way Home").
Max Beckmann. Letter to Reinhard Piper. April 21, 1922 [published in Klaus Gallwitz, ed., "Max Beckmann in Frankfurt," Frankfurt am Main, 1984, p. 115].
Curt Glaser et al. Max Beckmann. Munich, 1924, pp. 82–83, nos. 121–31.
Klaus Gallwitz, ed. Max Beckmann: Die Druckgraphik. Radierungen, Lithographien, Holzschnitte. Exh. cat., Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, 1962, unpaginated, nos. 113–23.
Marcel Franciscono. "The Imagery of Max Beckmann's 'The Night'." Art Journal 33 (Fall 1973), p. 20, discusses the lithograph "The Night" (2002.491g) copied after Beckmann's painting of the same title (1918–19; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf).
Christian Lenz. "Max Beckmann: 'Das Martyrium'." Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 16 (1974), pp. 185–210, figs. 1 ("The Martyrdom"), 7 ("Night").
Alexander Dückers. Max Beckmann: Die Hölle, 1919. Exh. cat., Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, Staatliche Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Berlin, 1983, pp. 7–11, 55–57, 69–70, 74–109, 124–25, nos. 66–77, figs. 97, 101, 105, 108, 113, 115, 117, 126, 129, 132, 134 (not this edition; collection Kupferstichkabinett Berlin).
Stephan von Wiese inMax Beckmann: Frankfurt 1915–1933. Ed. Klaus Gallwitz. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut. Franfurt am Main, 1983, pp. 28–36, ill. (unknown edition).
Fritz Erpel. Max Beckmann: Leben im Werk. Die Selbstbildnisse. Munich, 1985, pp. 34, 36–37, 321–23, nos. 79–82, ill. pp. 25 (detail, "The Ideologists), 35 ("Self-Portrait"), 322 (title page) and pls. 77–82 (unknown editions).
Walter Barker. "The Prints of Max Beckmann." Print Collector's Newsletter 15 (January–February 1985), p. 207.
Barbara C. Buenger. "Max Beckmann's 'Ideologues': Some Forgotten Faces." Art Bulletin 71 (September 1989), pp. 453–79, figs. 1 ("The Ideologists", called "The Ideologues"), 11 (title page: "Self-Portrait"), 12 ("The Way Home"), 13 ("The Martyrdom"), 14 ("Hunger"), 15 ("Night"), 16 ("Marlepartus"), 17 ("The Last Ones"), 18 ("The Family") (unknown editions).
Matthias Eberle. Der Weltkrieg und die Künstler der Weimarer Republik: Dix, Grosz, Beckmann, Schlemmer. Stuttgart, 1989, p. 95, 98–99, 103, 108, figs. 69 ("The Martyrdom"), 75 ("The Family"), 83 ("The Last Ones"), 88 ("The Ideologists") (unknown editions).
James Hofmaier. Max Beckmann: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints. Vol. 1, Numbers 1–179. Bern, 1990, pp. 379–401, nos. 139 III, 140–149 B, ill.
Wendy Weitman inMax Beckmann Prints from the Museum of Modern Art. Exh. cat., Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Fort Worth, 1992, pp. 9–14, 16, 19 n. 22, pp. 94, 98, pls. 17–27, (not this edition).
Kristin Makholm. "Prints in Germany 1905–1923." Saint Louis Art Museum Bulletin 20 (Summer 1993), p. 14, ill. p. 15 ("The Street"; not this edition).
Ute L. Tellini. "Max Beckmann's 'Tribute' to Rosa Luxemburg." Woman's Art Journal 18 (Fall 1997–Winter 1998), pp. 22–26, figs. 1 ("The Martyrdom"), 2 ("Night") (not this edition; both collection Museum of Modern Art, New York).
Barbara Copeland Buenger, ed. Max Beckmann: Self-Portrait in Words. Collected Writings and Statements, 1903–1950. Chicago, 1997, pp. 11, 186–87, 327 n. 5, p. 382.
Christian Lenz in Thomas Döring and Christian Lenz. Max Beckmann: Selbstbildnisse, Zeichnung und Druckgraphik. Exh. cat., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Bonn, 2000, pp. 30, 32, 38, 180–89, 224–25, 315, nos. 49 ("Self-Portrait," collection Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig), 50 ("The Way Home," collection Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig), 51 ("The Ideologists," private collection), 52 ("The Family," collection Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig), ill.
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2001–2002." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 60 (Fall 2002), p. 40.
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2002–2003." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Fall 2003), p. 47, ill. ("Night").
Arthur C. Danto. "Regarding the Pain of Others: Max Beckmann." Nation 277 (September 15, 2003), pp. 38, 40–41.
Susanne Bieber inMax Beckmann. Ed. Sean Rainbird. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. London, 2003, pp. 56, 58, 73–74, 289, nos. 29–39, ill. (color) pp. 56–57, 59–69 (Edition 4/75; collection National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh).
Anette Kruszynski inMax Beckmann. Ed. Sean Rainbird. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. London, 2003, pp. 100, 111 n. 17, discusses "The Martyrdom" and "Night".
Sean Rainbird inMax Beckmann. Ed. Sean Rainbird. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. London, 2003, pp. 22, 160.
Grace Glueck. "In German Prints, Powerful, Graphic Reactions to Horrors of World War I." New York Times (July 22, 2005), p. E31, ill. ("The Ideologists") (not this edition).
Catherine Clinger. "Theory of the Ridiculous: Jean Paul, Max Beckmann, and Dostoevsky's Donkey." Art History 33 (June 2010), p. 521.
Reinhard Spieler. Max Beckmann 1884–1950: The Path to Myth. Cologne, 2011, pp. 42–49, ill. (unknown edition).
Thomas Döring in1914... Schrecklich kriegerische Zeiten. Ed. Wulf Otte, Heike Pöppelmann, and Ole Zimmermann. Exh. cat., Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum. Braunschweig, 2014, p. 147, ill. p. 149 ("The Way Home") (color; not this edition; collection Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig).
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