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SCHIRN Kunsthalle Frankfurt:

"LYONEL FEININGER. RETROSPEKTIVE"

October 27, 2023 – February 18, 2024

Coinciding with our exhibition "LYONEL FEININGER. Manikins & the Sea", the first major retrospective of the artist's work in Germany in over 25 years opens at the SCHIRN in Frankfurt.

The German-Amer­ican artist Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) is a classic name in modern art. The SCHIRN is dedi­cating the first major retro­spec­tive in Germany in over twenty-five years to this impor­tant painter and graphic artist, portraying a compre­hen­sive and surprising overview of his creative work. Feininger is famous for his paint­ings of build­ings, crys­talline archi­tec­tures in unmis­tak­able monu­men­tality, and harmo­nious colors. However, today’s approach often over­looks the orig­i­nality and wealth of artistic facets in his oeuvre, which reflects many aspects of modernism. The SCHIRN presents main works which are seldom on view and also little-known series like the artist’s recently redis­cov­ered photographs. At an early stage, Feininger devel­oped a highly indi­vidual illus­tra­tive style as a graphic artist and cari­ca­turist. In addi­tion to central works from his early figu­ra­tive phase, including polit­ical cari­ca­tures, humorous-grotesque town­scapes, and carni­va­lesque figures, the exhi­bi­tion also illus­trates his role as one of the first Bauhaus instruc­tors and as a master of graphic tech­niques such as the drawing and the woodcut. A partic­ular focus lies on Feininger’s pivotal works from the 1930s and his exile in America. The exhi­bi­tion illu­mi­nates impor­tant themes and lines of devel­op­ment with some 160 paint­ings, draw­ings, cari­ca­tures, water­colors, wood­cuts, photographs, and objects that make Feininger’s work distinc­tive and unique.

Lyonel Feininger, Vollschiff

Watercolour and Indian ink on paper
30.2 × 46.4 cm / 11 7/8 × 18 1/4 in

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