美国国家公共电台 NPR Decades After His Death, Max Beckmann Returns To New York

Decades After His Death, Max Beckmann Returns To New York

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:40repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: 

To the art world and an exhibit opening next week at the Met, the Metropolitan² Museum of Art in New York. Thirty-nine paintings by the German expressionist artist Max Beckmann. The show is called "Max Beckmann In New York," and it was inspired by one particular day in the city back in 1950. I'm going to let Sabine Rewald pick up the story from here. She is curator of the show. Hi there.

SABINE REWALD: Yes, hello.

KELLY: So tell us what what happened. December 1950, Beckmann was in New York.

REWALD: Yes, it was a sunny day on December 27. And there was an exhibition called "American Painting Today" that had opened in early December, but he missed the opening. So on that day, he went to see his last - he could know it was his last - his "Self-Portrait In Blue Jacket." But unfortunately, he never made it to the Metropolitan Museum. On the corner of Central Park West and 69th Street, on the side of the park where there is an entrance, he had a heart attack and he died.

KELLY: Is the painting that he was on his way to see - is it part of the show that's about to open?

REWALD: Of course. If I would not have gotten this painting, which is now in the St. Louis Art Museum, I couldn't have done this exhibition. It is the centerpiece.

KELLY: Describe it for us.

REWALD: It is, as always, a painting that Beckmann shows - he shows himself smoking. And he has a bright blue jacket and his shirt is sort of reddish. He painted with much louder colors, I must say, when he was in New York. He lived here for 16 months. He was driven, and he painted often hours and hours in his studio, also at night. And he used neon light. So I think the neon light makes his colors somewhat sharper and more bright.

KELLY: Give us a bit more of a picture of what kind of things he painted. He was known, for example, for self-portraits like the one you just described.

REWALD: He was in the beginning an expressionist, then briefly³ was part of what is called new objectivity realism. And then in the late '20s, early '30s, he mingled⁴ often mythology⁵ with realism. And that had to do also because of the rising National Socialism. You see in 1931, after spending 15 years in Frankfurt, he moved to Berlin. And he thought Berlin a larger metropolis⁶ which would, in a way, be more secure for him because his painting by '33 was condemned⁷ as so-called degenerate⁸ by the National Socialists⁹. And then he moved to Amsterdam, where he would spend the next 10 years in voluntary exile.

KELLY: Did Max Beckmann over go back to Germany?

REWALD: Never.

KELLY: Never.

REWALD: He never went back to Germany. He stayed in Amsterdam until 1947, and then Beckmann was invited to teach in St. Louis. And so Beckmann left. And then in 1949, he was appointed to teach at the Brooklyn Art Museum School in New York. So he came to New York and felt that was the end of exile. He said New York is like Berlin - 10 times as vibrant¹⁰. So he loved New York.

KELLY: For people who maybe don't know Beckmann's work, what's his place now in the art world?

REWALD: I think Beckmann's place as a German artist is comparable to Picasso's place. Beckmann is our most important, well, dead German artist.

KELLY: You say our. I should mention...

REWALD: Oh, sorry, I said German. I still...

KELLY: ...You're from Germany, from Berlin.

REWALD: Yes, I still feel German, so sorry.

KELLY: Based on what we know about him, how much might it have mattered to him all these years later to see that painting finally up on display in the Met?

REWALD: Yes, I think he would have liked it very much. He would have said in his typical cynical¹¹, humorous way, nice little show.

KELLY: (Laughter) Well, that's Sabine Rewald, curator of that nice little show, "Max Beckmann In New York." It opens to the public on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thank you so much for talking to us, Sabine.

REWALD: You're very welcome.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

5 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

6 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

7 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

8 degenerate   

v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者

参考例句：

• He didn't let riches and luxury make him degenerate.他不因财富和奢华而自甘堕落。
• Will too much freedom make them degenerate?太多的自由会令他们堕落吗？

9 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

10 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

11 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。