Lot Essay
On 11 June 1937 Feininger and his wife Julia left Germany for America. Three hundred and seventy-eight of his works had been removed from German museums by the National Socialists and one month after he had left the country, eight of his paintings, one watercolour and thirteen of his woodcuts were included in the infamous 'Entartete Kunst' exhibition in Munich. Feininger commented "I feel twenty-five years younger knowing that I will move to a country where fantasy in the arts and abstraction aren't considered absolute crimes, as they are here" (in a letter to his son Lux dated 31 May 1937, see Lyonel Feininger, exh. cat., New York, 1985).
Having lived in New York until the age of sixteen, Feininger was deeply moved by his return to his home city. "Imagine the almost unprecedented home-coming of an American, after nearly fifty years entire absence (with not one visit in the intervening years!), to his native city. The changes that have taken place in that period of time are astonishing enough; but, on the other hand, so much still remains in parts of the city, unchanged, just as it was in the '80s, that it calls up my fondest boyhood memories. I find myself in a state of continual wonderment, discovering sentiments I certainly never had when I was a boy, but which make me a never-tiring spectator of even the most minute details of the city and its life and goings-on. There is nothing that does not affect me in some way; every step I take...is a source of pure delight" (in a letter to Theodore Spicer-Simson dated 18 Septemer 1937, see Hess op. cit., p. 140).
Manhatten, Night is one of a series of works which Feininger painted at this point, which reveal the tremendous impact the modern skyscrapers had on the artist as he re-discovered the city: "The impressions of America found form in a series of Manhatten pictures. Manhattan I (H.398) is seen with the wondering eyes of the child and the unbelief of the old man...In Manhattan II (H.399), the painter takes hold of himself and tries to wrest a 'Feininger' from Manhattan...Manhattan, Night is a disciplined work; the will of the artist and the will of the subject have reached a meeting point between reality and fairy tale. The objective and the subjective have agreed to live together and make a picture" (H. Hess, ibid.).
The present work was originally handled by Marian Willard, who, along with other leading figures in the New York art world such as Curt Valentin, Alfred H. Barr Jnr and William R. Valentiner, was of the utmost importance to securing Feininger's living and reputation in America after his departure from Germany. Willard arranged his first exhibition of drawings and watercolours, at the East River Gallery and in 1941, Feininger signed a contract with Willard and Valentin which guaranteed him a monthly income of two hundred dollars.
To be included in the forthcoming Lyonel Feininger catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Achim Moeller, New York.
We are extremely grateful to Achim Moeller for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This painting has been requested for inclusion in the exhibition Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler which will travel to the Nationalgalerie, Berlin from October 1997 until January 1998.
Having lived in New York until the age of sixteen, Feininger was deeply moved by his return to his home city. "Imagine the almost unprecedented home-coming of an American, after nearly fifty years entire absence (with not one visit in the intervening years!), to his native city. The changes that have taken place in that period of time are astonishing enough; but, on the other hand, so much still remains in parts of the city, unchanged, just as it was in the '80s, that it calls up my fondest boyhood memories. I find myself in a state of continual wonderment, discovering sentiments I certainly never had when I was a boy, but which make me a never-tiring spectator of even the most minute details of the city and its life and goings-on. There is nothing that does not affect me in some way; every step I take...is a source of pure delight" (in a letter to Theodore Spicer-Simson dated 18 Septemer 1937, see Hess op. cit., p. 140).
Manhatten, Night is one of a series of works which Feininger painted at this point, which reveal the tremendous impact the modern skyscrapers had on the artist as he re-discovered the city: "The impressions of America found form in a series of Manhatten pictures. Manhattan I (H.398) is seen with the wondering eyes of the child and the unbelief of the old man...In Manhattan II (H.399), the painter takes hold of himself and tries to wrest a 'Feininger' from Manhattan...Manhattan, Night is a disciplined work; the will of the artist and the will of the subject have reached a meeting point between reality and fairy tale. The objective and the subjective have agreed to live together and make a picture" (H. Hess, ibid.).
The present work was originally handled by Marian Willard, who, along with other leading figures in the New York art world such as Curt Valentin, Alfred H. Barr Jnr and William R. Valentiner, was of the utmost importance to securing Feininger's living and reputation in America after his departure from Germany. Willard arranged his first exhibition of drawings and watercolours, at the East River Gallery and in 1941, Feininger signed a contract with Willard and Valentin which guaranteed him a monthly income of two hundred dollars.
To be included in the forthcoming Lyonel Feininger catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Achim Moeller, New York.
We are extremely grateful to Achim Moeller for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This painting has been requested for inclusion in the exhibition Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler which will travel to the Nationalgalerie, Berlin from October 1997 until January 1998.