Lyonel Feininger

Andreas and T. Lux Feininger, New York (by descent)
Miles Barth, New York (acquired from Andreas Feininger)
Private collection, New York

Madrid, Fundación Juan March, Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), February–May 2017, i. p. 150, illustrated in colour, ii. p. 157, illustrated in colour

This print is in overall good condition. With some very light surface scratches across the whole print, mostly in the upper right quadrant, only visible in raking light. With some minor creases and handling marks around the edges and with softened corners. On the reverse there are light, discoloured scratches to the left edge.
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Following the end of the First World War, the American born ‘German’ artist, Lyonel Feininger was invited by Walter Gropius to become the first faculty member of a new international school of design - Bauhaus. In a letter to Gropius Feininger wrote that it was to be “The beginning of the finest adventure in my artistic career …the decisive turning point of my... artistic life” (Lyonel Feininger, cited in: Walter Gropius, ‘My Friendship with Feininger’, in: Ulrich Luckhardt, Lyonel Feininger, Ed., New York 1974, p. 256).

One of the most highly regarded teachers at the Bauhaus, Feininger sought to encourage all aspects of art and creativity within his students. Although specifically Master of Printmaking it was the “extraordinary impression upon the Bauhaus students, which stemmed from [his] human qualities … and his loving empathy for the existential quandaries of young men” which made him such an indelible asset to the school (Walter Gropius, cited in: Michael Siebenbrodt, Lyonel Feininger at the State Bauhaus, New York 2012, p. 86).

During his tenure at the Bauhaus through to his return to New York in 1937 Feininger painted very few oils. His work, instead, focused primarily around two themes in watercolour: The landscape of Deep; a village where he would spend his summers surrounded by his young family, and the image of the lone ship at sea in full sail.

The image of the ship recurred throughout Feininger’s career. Deeply influenced by Cubism, as well as Kandinsky’s teaching on colour, Feininger strove towards a modern geometric style. In the ship Feininger had the perfect subject for his experimentation. From as early as 1925 he made model boats, taking them to the banks of the Rega, where he would race them with his young children, often photographing the ships from close range. In doing so he removed the boats from a sense of scale creating an isolated and otherworldly image. It was from these photograph studies that Feininger was able to create larger watercolours often re-imagining the natural curves as structured geometric lines.

 Deep offered Feininger an opportunity to return to the simple pleasures of sketching in nature – something that afforded him ‘ecstatic pleasure’ reminding him of his childhood and the pure love of drawing. Deep was a refuge for Feininger – a place that he would wish for throughout his later life in America. The watercolours from this period use a simple paired back palette often focusing on the lines and architecture of the buildings, in accordance with his Bauhaus colleagues.