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Lot Essay
Achim Moeller has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Lyonel Feininger began his artistic career as an illustrator and cartoonist, and in 1908, upon his return to Germany, he turned from illustration to painting. Most of his early works from 1908-1910, which Hans Hess classifies as the artist's figurative period, depict busy urban street scenes in which the figure is dominant as is evident in the present work. These urban scenes illustrate a world that is strange and yet familiar and Feininger referred to them as views of the "city at the edge of the world". The present work is likely a preliminary study for his painting of the same year Die Grüne Brücke (see Christie's, London, 25 June 2001, lot 19 which sold for 2,423,750 pounds realizing the second highest price for a work by Feininger to date).
Lyonel Feininger began his artistic career as an illustrator and cartoonist, and in 1908, upon his return to Germany, he turned from illustration to painting. Most of his early works from 1908-1910, which Hans Hess classifies as the artist's figurative period, depict busy urban street scenes in which the figure is dominant as is evident in the present work. These urban scenes illustrate a world that is strange and yet familiar and Feininger referred to them as views of the "city at the edge of the world". The present work is likely a preliminary study for his painting of the same year Die Grüne Brücke (see Christie's, London, 25 June 2001, lot 19 which sold for 2,423,750 pounds realizing the second highest price for a work by Feininger to date).