Woodcut on thin japan paper with unevenly torn lower edge
Germany, 1925
Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) – German-American painter, graphic artist and illustrator of Classic Modernism
Title page of the portfolio ‘10 Holzschnitte von Lyonel Feininger’
Catalog raisonné: Prasse W257
In profile frame
Image dimensions: 16.2 x 17.6 cm
Good condition
Lyonel Feininger, one of the most important contributors of Cubism and Expressionism, was one of the co-founders of Bauhaus; the auction record for a woodcut of the artist is set above €37,000

Lyonel Feininger created this sheet as title for the portfolio ’10 Holzschnitte von Lyonel Feininger’, which was published presumably in 1926 by Euphorion Verlag in Berlin. The edition of 50 copies indicated in the imprint was not fully realized. Probably about 14 copies were issued. This title woodcut was mounted on the cover of the cardboard portfolio and additionally contained in the portfolio as title page with the printed imprint on verso as well as an addition to the ten woodcuts of the portfolio. All prints are hand proofs by the artist.

The unsigned woodcut is affixed to a mat at four spots at the reverse sheet corners. The glue is somewhat staining through the thin paper on recto. Additionally there are very occasional, faintly visible foxmarks and minor creases. Overall the condition is good. The frame is in good condition with small material losses slight signs of wear. The image measures 16.2 x 17.6 cm, the sheet 27.2 x 25 cm. The framed dimensions are 42 x 42 cm.

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)

Lyonel Feininger moved from New York to Germany at the age of 16. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Hamburg, the Royal Academy in Berlin and later in Paris under the sculptor Filippo Colarossi. Back in Berlin he worked as a commercial caricaturist for various magazines. In 1906 Feininger visited Paris again where he met Robert Delaunay and Henri Matisse. Five years later six of Feininger’s works were shown at the ‘Salon des Artistes Indépendants’. The artist became acquainted with Cubism and in Germany he got to know the members of the artists’ groups Brücke and Blauer Reiter. In 1919, he was hired by Walter Gropius as the head of the graphic workshop at the newly founded Bauhaus. Since Feininger’s works were considered ‘degenerate art’ during the Nazi regime, the artist moved back to the United States in the late 1930s, continuously working with German subject matters. In 1944 the Museum of Modern Art showed a first retrospective of the artist together with the American painter Marsden Hartley. The MoMA still houses some of Feininger’s work. Today Lyonel Feininger is known as one of the most important artists of the classical modern period whose works are represented in the most renowned museums worldwide. (fea)

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