1630 - Ackermann, Max. Two drawings of standing male nudes. Graphite and chalk on gray drawing paper. One sheet is monogrammed “x.A.” on the right and dated “20 Sep. 17” in the lower right corner. 1917. Sheet dimensions: 53.2 x 22.4 cm and 62.3 x 20.6 cm.

Ackermann, Max. Two drawings of standing male nudes. Graphite and chalk on gray drawing paper. One sheet is monogrammed “x.A.” on the right and dated “20 Sep. 17” in the lower right corner. 1917. Sheet dimensions: 53.2 x 22.4 cm and 62.3 x 20.6 cm. His brother Hermann evidently served as the model for these nude studies by Max Ackermann (1887–1975), executed in a style reminiscent of the Old Masters. The young man reaching upward with a face contorted in pain was likely inspired by Ackermann’s wartime experiences. Drafted into military service in 1915 as a Landsturm soldier, Ackermann was discharged from active duty in 1917 as unfit for service following a prolonged stay in a military hospital and turned to a veristic style characterized by socially provocative themes. For a long time, the “pioneer of non-representational painting” in Germany would oscillate between figuration and abstraction, between Verism and New Objectivity, between geometric forms and pure fields of color, before finally settling on an exclusively non-representational visual language in the last years of his life. - Verso shows remnants of an earlier mounting, minimal staining, and some crease marks. - Included: A page from a sketchbook with several figure studies on both sides (including the stretching nude with arms raised high). Pencil, pen, and red chalk on thin paper. 33 x 21 cm. Mounted in the upper corners on the reverse, with a longer tear in the lower margin, pinholes, and creases. - Provenance: From the estate of the Ackermann family.