Here we highlight 12 woodcuts by Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) drawn from the Feininger family collection.
Feininger began making woodcuts in the spring of 1918. In the summer of that year, he and his family went on vacation to the scenic town of Braunlage in the Harz Mountains. The bucolic setting stimulated his work on his woodcuts, whose new challenges and possibilities thrilled him. Feininger’s inspirations ranged from his immediate mountain surroundings, especially the magnificent spruce trees, to his memories of the shoreline along the Baltic Sea. By the end of 1918, he had cut an impressive 117 woodblocks.
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Fir Trees), 1918
Woodcut on oatmeal-tan carbon-copy paper, mounted on paper
Sheet: 8 9/16 x 11 1/16 in. (21.7 x 28.1 cm)
Image: 4 x 5 1/4 in. (10.2 x 13.3 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 1809
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 12
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(The Hunter's Lodge), 1918
Woodcut on carbon-copy paper
Sheet: 8 5/8 x 11 in. (21.9 x 27.9 cm)
Image: 4 3/8 x 5 1/2 in. (11.1 x 14 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 1827
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 40
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Outbound Steamer Odin), 1918
Woodcut on white tissue paper
Sheet: 4 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (10.8 x 21 cm)
Image: 3 1/4 x 4 7/16 in. (8.2 x 11.3 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 1860
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 75
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Marine with Sun), 1918
Woodcut on European machine-made wove cream paper
Sheet: 9 7/8 x 13 3/8 in. (25.1 x 34 cm)
Image: 5 3/4 x 7 in. (14.6 x 17.8 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 1886
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 100
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Wreck 2), 1919
Woodcut on European handmade-laid cream paper
Sheet: 5 1/8 x 7 1/2 in. (13 x 19.1 cm)
Image: 3 1/8 x 4 5/8 in. (7.9 x 11.8 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Inscribed lower left: X
Numbered lower center: 1918a
Prasse W 139
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Houses), 1919
Woodcut on Japanese laid paper
Sheet: 5 1/4 x 4 5/8 in. (13.3 x 11.7 cm)
Image: 2 7/8 x 2 1/4 in. (7.3 x 5.7 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 1933
Prasse W 153
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Ships and Sun), 1920
Woodcut on Japanese laid paper
Sheet: 6 7/8 x 8 7/8 in. (17.5 x 22.5 cm)
Image: 3 1/2 x 4 13/16 in. (8.9 x 12.2 cm)
Numbered lower center: 2009
Prasse W 201 II
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Custom House), 1920
Woodcut on Japanese laid paper
Sheet: 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Image: 4 7/8 x 6 5/8 in. (12.4 x 16.8 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 2012
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 204
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Street), 1920
Woodcut on Mino copy paper
Sheet: 9 1/2 x 12 1/16 in. (24.1 x 30.6 cm)
Image: 4 x 5 1/2 in. (10.2 x 14 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 2038
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 230 I
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Ships with Sun and Moon), 1921
Woodcut on Japanese laid paper
Sheet: 6 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. (16.8 x 24.8 cm)
Image: 2 1/4 x 4 1/2 in. (5.7 x 11.4 cm)
Numbered lower center: 2102
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 239
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
(Ex Libris Hans Hess), 1926
Woodcut on Japanese laid paper
Sheet: 6 3/4 x 4 7/8 in. (17.1 x 12.4 cm)
Image: 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (8.9 x 7 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower center: 2601
Inscribed lower left: X
Not in Prasse
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
10 Holzschnitte von Lyonel Feininger (Title Page for Print Portfolio "Ten Woodcuts by Lyonel Feininger"), 1925
Woodcut on European mould-made paper
Sheet: 7 x 7 7/8 in. (17.8 x 20)
Image: 6 1/2 x 7 3/8 in. (16.5 x 18.7 cm)
Signed lower left: Lyonel Feininger
Numbered lower right: 2501
Inscribed lower left: X
Prasse W 257
Julia reading and Lyonel Feininger working on a woodcut on their terrace in Weimar, 1919
Photo: Unknown
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.