We are pleased to present 15 imaginative small-scale sketches by Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), which the artist made in 1894 and 95 for the American children’s magazine Harper’s Young People. The sketches come from the collection of the distinguished art historian and museum director Alois J. Schardt (1889–1955) and reveal Feininger’s whimsical and humorous side.
In 1887, Feininger moved from his native New York to Hamburg, then Berlin, to study art. His plan was to return to the U.S. after completing his schooling. By the early 1890s, he was earning a growing income from the caricatures he published in German satirical magazines, including Humoristische Blätter, Lustige Blätter, and Ulk. In anticipation of his move back home, he also started sending his caricatures to Harper’s Young People.
In January 1894, Feininger could report to his friend H. Francis Kortheuer: “As a beginning for getting ready to come back ‘home’ I sent a number of drawings to Harper Brothers in N.Y. and just this morning received notification from them that they have accepted 5 drawings out of 9! I am ready to dance for joy about it!” A month later, his first drawings illustrated “Hans Pumpernickel’s Vigil,” a short story by John Kendrick Bangs. Harper’s continued to publish Feininger’s drawings alongside Bangs’s stories until 1895. They often centered on aristocratic figures, or fantastical beings like dwarfs and wizards, set in medieval times.
Feininger would ultimately settle in Germany, build a family, and remain in the country until the rise of the Nazis made life there untenable. He found success as an artist, a master at the Bauhaus, and, at the start of his career, as a caricaturist lauded as “the first among the Berlin draftsmen.”
All works are for sale, subject to availability. Prices upon request.
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Dwarf Plotting), 1894/95
Ink on paper
4 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (10.8 x 6.4 cm)
Dated lower right: 94
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Angry Woman with Pan), 1894/95
Ink on paper
6 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (15.9 x 7 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Dwarf Smoking a Pipe), 1894
Ink on paper
4 3/8 x 2 3/4 in. (11.1 x 7 cm)
Initialed middle center: F.
Dated lower center: Friday, August 17th 1894
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Woman with Baby), 1894
Ink on paper
4 3/8 x 3 1/4 in. (11.1 x 8.3 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: Feininger Nov. 4th 1894.
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Man Sitting on a Bench Drinking a Beer), 1894/95
Ink on paper
4 1/8 x 4 3/4 in. (10.5 x 12.1 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
Fragment to "The Library," 1894
Ink on paper
5 x 3 1/8 in. (12.7 x 7.9 cm)
Dated lower right: ‘94
Inscribed lower center: Fragment to “the Library.”
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Boy with Fishing Rod), 1894/95
Ink on paper
5 5/8 x 2 5/8 in. (14.3 x 6.7 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Man with Hat and Aristocrats), 1894/95
Ink on paper
6 x 3 7/8 in. (15.2 x 9.8 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(King with Sabre), 1894/95
Ink on paper
7 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (19.1 x 9.5 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Bald Man with Large Collar), 1894/95
Ink on paper
3 5/8 x 2 in. (9.2 x 5.1 cm)
Dated lower right: 94
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Knight with Epee), 1894/95
Ink on paper
4 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (11.4 x 6.4 cm)
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Noble Man on a Chair Reading), 1894
Ink on paper
3 3/4 x 3 1/4 in. (9.5 x 8.3 cm)
Dated lower left: Monday, Aug 27th 1894
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Noble Man on a Chair), 1894
Ink on paper
4 1/2 x 3 in. (11.4 x 7.6 cm)
Dated lower center illegible
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Magistrate with Documents under his Arm), 1894/95
Ink on paper
2 3/4 x 2 1/4 in. (7 x 5.7 cm)
Lyonel Feininger, 1894
Photo: Loescher & Petsch, Berlin
1871
Lyonel Feininger is born on July 17 in New York to Karl and Elizabeth Feininger; he is the first of three children.
1887
Leaves for Germany and starts studying at the General Vocational and Crafts School in Hamburg.
1888
Moves to Berlin and begins studying at the Royal Academy of Arts.
1892
Leaves the Academy and moves to Paris.
1893
Moves back to Berlin and starts working as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator.
1901
Marries Clara Fürst, birth of daughter Eleonora.
1902
Birth of daughter Marianne.
1905
Meets Julia Berg (née Lilienfeld) and separates from his wife.
1906
Moves with Julia to Paris and their son Andreas is born. Works on two comic strips for The Chicago Sunday Tribune.
1907
Executes his first oil painting.
1908
Marries Julia in London, returns to Berlin.
1909
Birth of son Laurence.
1910
Birth of son Theodore Lux (T. Lux).
1911
Six paintings are shown at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris.
1913
Five paintings are shown at the Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon, organized by the Galerie Der Sturm in Berlin.
1917
First solo exhibition at the Galerie Der Sturm.
1919
Is appointed the first master of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar.
1921
Composes his first fugue.
1926
Moves with the Bauhaus to Dessau as master without teaching duties.
1929
Works on a series of paintings for the City of Halle (Saale).
1931
Completes his Halle series. Retrospectives in Dresden, Essen, and at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
1934
Moves to Berlin-Siemensstadt.
1935
The National Socialists declare his art “degenerate.”
1936
Teaches a summer course at Mills College in Oakland, California.
1937
Leaves Germany, teaches another summer course at Mills College and then settles in New York City.
1939
Works on murals for the 1939/1940 New York World’s Fair.
1942
One of his paintings is awarded a purchase prize by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
1944
Retrospective with Marsden Hartley at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
1945
Teaches a summer course at Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina.
1956
Dies on January 13 in his New York apartment.
