Records kept by Perry Rathbone pertaining to the lawsuits and counter suits over the multi-million dollar estate of Mathilde Beckmann, widow of the painter Max Beckmann. Included are: documents of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the New York Surrogate's Court, and a State Court in Florida; correspondence, various wills and codicils to wills of Mathilde Beckmann; testimony of art experts; and supporting material, including clippings, exhibition catalogs, slides and photographs. Much of the material consists of photocopies sent to Rathbone as executor of Mrs. Beckmann's original (1975) will.
Biographical / Historical:
Rathbone (1911-2000) was executor of the estate of Mathilde Beckmann (ca. 1904-1986), the widow of painter Max Beckmann. The suit and counter suits over her estate began just after her death in 1986 and related to re-writing in 1982 of Mrs. Beckmann's original will of 1975, in which Hedda von Kaulbach Schoonderbeek--her elder sister and only surviving relative--was primary benefactor, as well as the disposition of several works of art by Max Beckmann to the National Gallery of art and other museums.
The new will made Mrs. Beckmann's caretakers, sisters Betty Sue Robinson and Mary Dent the primary beneficiaries, leaving Schoonderbeek with just {dollar}5,000 of the multi-million dollar estate and excluded most of the recipients of works of art altogether. In 1985, almost all of Mrs. Beckmann's property was transferred to the Robinson sisters, and in February 1986 Mrs. Beckmann was moved by the Robinsons to Florida, where she died just a few weeks later. In June, Perry Rathbone and Frederic Houston, as executors of the original will, Schoonderbeek, and a friend, Richard Keoseian, filed suit in Surrogate's Court in Manhattan. Although the suit was successful in challenging Robinson and Dent, it spawned several bitter and protracted counter suits, which finally concluded in 1997. By then most of the initial parties were deceased, and the bulk of the estate spent on attorney's fees.
Provenance:
Donated 1998 by Perry T. Rathbone, executor of the Beckmann estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of painter and educator Max Beckmann measure 1.4 linear feet and date from 1917 to 1954. The collection documents Beckmann's art career in Germany as well as New York and includes biographical material, correspondence, printed material and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and educator Max Beckmann measure 1.4 linear feet and date from 1917 to 1954. The collection documents Beckmann's art career in Germany as well as New York and includes biographical material, correspondence, printed material and photographs.
Biographical material consists of an art class student register, art organization membership card, bibliography, customs forms for a pet, exhibition price lists, and assorted travel identification documents.
Correspondence is with universities, museums and galleries regarding teaching positions, lectures, exhibitions and art sales. There are also numerous letters and telegrams with his wife Mathilde.
Printed material includes clippings, catalogs, postcards, and miscellany.
Photographs are of Max Beckmann, family, friends, exhibition installations, and houses. Most of the series consists of photographic prints, but there are also a few negatives. Many of the photographs are annotated in German.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as four series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-1954 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1950 (Boxes 1-2; 1 linear foot)
Series 3: Printed Material, circa 1937-1950 (Box 2; 4 folders)
Series 4: Photographs, 1917-1950 (Box 2; 7 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
Max Beckmann (1884-1950) was a painter and educator who was born and educated in Germany and based in New York after World War II.
Max Beckmann was born in 1884 in Leipzig, Germany. He studied art at the Weimar-Saxon Grand Ducal Art Academy from 1900 to 1902 and graduated with honors. During World War I, he volunteered as a medical orderly from 1914 t0 1915, an experience that haunted him and deeply impacted his artwork. Beckmann's art is considered part of the German New Objectivity movement.
In 1925, Beckmann's first marriage to Minna Tube ended in divorce, and he married Mathilde von Kaulbach. That same year he began teaching art at the Städelschule Academy of Fine Art in Frankfurt. By the late 1920s he had several major exhibitions in museums and galleries in Germany and Switzerland, had his first exhibition in the US (1926), and his paintings were acquired by the National Gallery in Berlin.
When Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and the Nazis came to power, marking the end of the Weimar Republic, modern art was quickly suppressed and derisively referred to as "degenerate art." Consequently, Beckmann lost his teaching job at the Frankfurt Art Academy and several of his paintings were included in the Degenerate Art or Entartete Kunst exhibition (1937) in Munich. Shortly thereafter, Beckmann left Germany and never returned to the country again.
Beckmann and his wife Mathilde settled in Amsterdam, where they stayed for approximately ten years. Beckmann continued to paint during this time. After the end of World War II, Beckmann immigrated to the United States where he taught, painted, and regularly exhibited his work. He taught art at Washington State University in St. Louis, Missouri, for a time and then became an art professor at the Brooklyn Museum's Art School in New York. Max Beckmann died in 1950.
Related Materials:
The Max Beckmann Archive in Munich, Germany also holds papers of Max Beckmann including correspondence, clippings, photographs and artifacts.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 1213-1214 and 1237) including ten personal diaries of Max Beckmann and three notebooks containing lists of works, sketches, and some daily entries of activities and observations. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, the artist's widow, loaned diaries and notebooks for microfilming in 1977 and donated additional material in 1983.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
5 Microfilm reels (42 volumes on 5 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1941-1974
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Mathilde Q. Beckmann diaries contain information about Mathilde Beckmann's husband, Max Beckmann, some sketches, and photographs.
Biographical / Historical:
Mathilde Q. Beckmann (1904-1986) was a German singer and the second wife of painter Max Beckmann. Beckmann was portrayed in many of her husband's works and she administered his estate after his death.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Legal records relating to the estate of Mathilde Beckmann, circa 1959-1997 and the Max Beckmann papers, 1917-1954.