| Descent from the Cross | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Max Beckmann |
| Year | 1917 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 151,2 cm× 128,9 cm(595 in× 507 in) |
| Location | Museum of Modern Art, New York |
Descent from the Cross is an oil-on-canvas painting by German artist Max Beckmann, executed in 1917. It his held at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. [1]
Beckmann's harsh experience serving in the German Army during World War I influenced his new approach to painting in the following years. His works from this period include several paintings with religious themes, such as Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery and this Descent from the Cross, created both in 1917. The current painting is very different from the traditional representations of the same event. Beckmann was influenced for this painting in particular by the work of German Renaissance painters, such as Matthias Grünewald and Hans Holbein. Its possible that this work was created as response to a challenge made by German curator Gustav Hartmann, who wanted him to create something as powerful as the ancient German art. [2]
The composition, using several perspectives and distorted figures, is dominated by the oversize corpse of Jesus, which occupies the central place. Jesus's body shows signs of rigor mortis, it is pale and covered by bruises and sores. There are coagulated blood pools around the stigmata, while his stretched arms are a remainder of the crucifixion. A darkened sun is seen at the upper left, while two women kneel at the lower right, reduced in size. Two men carry the corpse of Jesus from the cross, while their ladder extends to outside the painting, as if pointing to Heaven. [3] [4] [5]
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst is noted for his unconventional drawing methods as well as for creating novels and pamphlets using the method of collages. He served as a soldier for four years during World War I, and this experience left him shocked, traumatised and critical of the modern world. During World War II he was designated an "undesirable foreigner" while living in France.
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Descent from the Cross (1634), by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, is one of his many religious scenes. The piece is oil on canvas and now located in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The piece is intriguing stylistically in its unique figural composition and variety of lighting effects. Aside from composition, the painting is notable in terms of its historical context, from the connection between its subject matter and Rembrandt's family situation to its endangered location during World War II.
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