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Lot Essay
Die Hochzeitsreisenden, known to the art world only from the unillustrated entry in the catalogue raisonné by Hans Hess, has remained in the same discreet private hands ever since its sale in 1920, at the Kunstverein Heidelberg, and has only been shown to the public on one occasion, over thirty-five years ago.
The work is particularly poignant, as it also describes such a personal episode in the artist's life. In 1908 Feininger had just married Julia Berg, née Lilienfeld, a young painter (see fig. 1). She supported Feininger's desire to embark on a career of painting, after years as a highly successful caricaturist in Berlin. In letters to Julia he states: "I am barely an artist. Certainly not in the 'clowneries' the world knows." Elsewhere he continues "because I have such fantasies I have become a caricaturist, a man who feels everything more strongly than the prescribed norm; even, yes above all, beauty! What grotesque thought to be condemned to create in eternal travesty. Inside one sees a heaven of beauty, which the philistines who carry the word beauty eternally on their lips, can never experience. Small wonder, that we the professionals, who are caricaturists from inner necessity all turn melancholic." (H. Hess, op. cit., p. 27)
In September, 1908, after travelling to London and Paris, the newly wed couple took up residence in Zehlendorf (see fig. 2), then a rural section outside Berlin, where they were to stay for the next eleven years. Given the title of the picture, and the unusually intimate atmosphere of the two figures, one could assume that the loving couple depicted is none other than the artist and his new wife. The two small children in the background, however, might well be the two daughters Lore and Marianne, from Feininger's first marriage with Clara Frst. In Berlin-Zehlendorf Feininger had his first studio, and in which he would steadily develop his very personal style of painting, evolving, at the age of 36, from a very well known illustrator (he worked for a number of Berlin newspapers, as well as the Chicago Herald) to an as yet unknown painter. Hans Hess writes: "In the paintings of this early period Feininger was essentially concerned with the use and meaning of color. This period of his paintings can be classified as "the figurative period", in which, apart from a few still lives and landscapes, the human figure is an essential part of the composition. His studies as a draftsman and his observation of character and movement served as the basis from which he developed his paintings.
Feininger's use of color is as direct as that of the Fauve painters, but his choice of colors is subtle and strange. The color disharmonies are softer and the mood created more dreamlike. A mauvish pink predominates, countered by strong blues and greens. The colors live by the subtle violence of their disharmonies.
In his pictures of this period the human figure plays a dominant part, but neither the figures nor the settings in which they move pretend to be real. The degree of dreamlike fantasy varies." (op. cit., p. 47)
To be included in the forthcoming Lyonel Feininger catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Achim Moeller, New York.
We are extremely to Achim Moeller for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
The work is particularly poignant, as it also describes such a personal episode in the artist's life. In 1908 Feininger had just married Julia Berg, née Lilienfeld, a young painter (see fig. 1). She supported Feininger's desire to embark on a career of painting, after years as a highly successful caricaturist in Berlin. In letters to Julia he states: "I am barely an artist. Certainly not in the 'clowneries' the world knows." Elsewhere he continues "because I have such fantasies I have become a caricaturist, a man who feels everything more strongly than the prescribed norm; even, yes above all, beauty! What grotesque thought to be condemned to create in eternal travesty. Inside one sees a heaven of beauty, which the philistines who carry the word beauty eternally on their lips, can never experience. Small wonder, that we the professionals, who are caricaturists from inner necessity all turn melancholic." (H. Hess, op. cit., p. 27)
In September, 1908, after travelling to London and Paris, the newly wed couple took up residence in Zehlendorf (see fig. 2), then a rural section outside Berlin, where they were to stay for the next eleven years. Given the title of the picture, and the unusually intimate atmosphere of the two figures, one could assume that the loving couple depicted is none other than the artist and his new wife. The two small children in the background, however, might well be the two daughters Lore and Marianne, from Feininger's first marriage with Clara Frst. In Berlin-Zehlendorf Feininger had his first studio, and in which he would steadily develop his very personal style of painting, evolving, at the age of 36, from a very well known illustrator (he worked for a number of Berlin newspapers, as well as the Chicago Herald) to an as yet unknown painter. Hans Hess writes: "In the paintings of this early period Feininger was essentially concerned with the use and meaning of color. This period of his paintings can be classified as "the figurative period", in which, apart from a few still lives and landscapes, the human figure is an essential part of the composition. His studies as a draftsman and his observation of character and movement served as the basis from which he developed his paintings.
Feininger's use of color is as direct as that of the Fauve painters, but his choice of colors is subtle and strange. The color disharmonies are softer and the mood created more dreamlike. A mauvish pink predominates, countered by strong blues and greens. The colors live by the subtle violence of their disharmonies.
In his pictures of this period the human figure plays a dominant part, but neither the figures nor the settings in which they move pretend to be real. The degree of dreamlike fantasy varies." (op. cit., p. 47)
To be included in the forthcoming Lyonel Feininger catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Achim Moeller, New York.
We are extremely to Achim Moeller for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.