The painter and graphic artist Joseph Mader (1905–1982), who was shaped by his encounter with the works of Max Beckmann around 1928, was just beginning his career in 1933 and was thus confronted with the question of adapting and distancing himself. His isolation made him an artist of the "lost generation", who never had the chance to position himself in the art market prior to the "Third Reich". Mader continued his artistic career admidst the political discussions surrounding the art oft he postwar era as a figurative painter. He juxtaposed a love of "what is visible", the mysterious harmony of creation, with Beckmann’s hard-hitting view of the "objectivity" of the world. Mader’s life and work are an appeal to reassess thins generation’s evaluations of art and society.