Artist

Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)

Paris (Newspaper Readers), 1908

Watercolor and ink on paper


10 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (26 x 21 cm)

Signed lower left: Feininger

Inscribed bottom left: X PARIS L.F.

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)

Pariser Strasse (Paris Street), 1915

Watercolor and ink on paper


11 9/10 x 8 8/9 in. (30.2 x 22.4 cm)

Signed lower left: Feininger

Dated lower right: Dienst. d. 21. Dez. 1915

Titled lower center: PARISER STRASSE

Inscribed bottom left: X

 

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Lyonel Feininger (18711956) 

Quimper, 1931
Watercolor and ink on paper
18 5/8 x 11 1/4 in. (47.3 x 28.6 cm)
Signed lower leff: Feininger
Titled lower center: Quimper
Dated lower right: 3 9 31

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Manhattan, 1952

Watercolor, charcoal, and ink on paper

19 1/10 x 13 11/12 in. (48.5 x 35.4 cm)

 

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Manhattan, 1955

Watercolor, charcoal, and ink on paper

13 x 9 1/2 in. (33 x 24 cm)

 


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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Gaberndorf, 1918

Pen, ink, and watercolor on paper

9 1/3h x 12 1/8w in. (23.8 x 30.9 cm)

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Dorf, 1923

Watercolor and ink on paper

11 x 15 in. (28.1 x 38 cm)

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Greifenberg, 1927

Pen, ink, and charcoal on paper

11  x 16 in. (28.6 x 41 cm)

 

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Am Bahndamm (At the Embankment), 1916

Pen, ink, and watercolor on paper

9 3/4 x 12 1/2 in. (24.8 x 31.8 cm)

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

(Two Sailing Ships), 1939

Watercolor, pen, and ink on paper

7 5/8 x 10 5/16 in. (19.4 x 26 cm)

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

(Barque Against Blue Sky), 1938

Watercolor and ink on paper

6 5/6 x 9 1/16 in. (17.4 x 23 cm)

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)
The Watch Tower, 1947
Ink and watercolor
7 7/8 x 11 1/8 in. (20 x 28.3 cm)
Signed lower left: Feininger
Titled and dated verso: 1947 The Watch Tower
Inscribed verso: "Merry Xmas!" To Jeanne, from Papileo with much love 1947 

 

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Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Village Houses, 1955

black crayon on paper

9 x 12 in. (24 x 31.6 cm)

 

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Lyonel Feininger was born on July 17, 1871, in New York City. When he was 16 years old he began studying art, attending schools in Hamburg, Berlin, and Paris from 1887 to 1892. After completing his studies, he worked as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator in Berlin before moving to Paris, where, in 1907, he made his first oil painting. In 1917, he had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Der Sturm in Berlin.

One year after his solo exhibition, in 1918, Feininger started making woodcuts. He became enamored with woodcuts, producing an impressive 117 in his first year of learning the medium. In  1919 he was appointed as the first master at the newly formed Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar. His woodcut of a cathedral crowned by three stars illustrated the cover of the Bauhaus manifesto. It was among the 76 woodblocks he cut that year. He also published a portfolio of 12 woodcuts plus a title page, which has the distinction of being the school’s first publication.

In 1921, Feininger became master of form and head of the Bauhaus printing workshop. Together with Walter Gropius, he initiated a series of print portfolios. By 1926, he had cut 256 woodblocks. That same year he moved with the Bauhaus to its new location in Dessau, where he published a portfolio of 10 woodcuts.

From 1929 to 1931, Feininger worked on a series of paintings of the city of Halle (Saale). In 1935, the National Socialists (Nazis) declared his art “degenerate.” As the Nazis gained power, Feininger and his wife, Julia, determined that life in Germany was untenable. In 1937, after nearly 50 years in the country, he and his family left for the United States. He eventually settled back in New York.

In 1942, Feininger received a purchase prize from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Two years later, he was granted a retrospective with Marsden Hartley at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Feininger died on January 13, 1956.

 

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