Lyonel Feininger, “Kreuzende Segelschiffe 2 (Cruising Sailing Ships 2)”
1919, Woodcut.

Prasse W175. Edition 275 unsigned for portfolio Die tunlte Jahresgabe des Kreises graphischer Kunstler und Sammier, 1925; 25 signed de luxe edition nos. I-XXV, on Japanese Milo paper; 150 signed edition nos. 1-150, on Zanders cream laid paper; 100 unsigned nos. 151-250. Signed and titled in pencil.Image size 6 x 8 7/8 inches (171 x 225 mm); sheet size 9 1/2 x 11 7/8 inches (241 x 302 mm).

A superb, black, proof impression, apart from the published editions, on tissue-thin cream laid Japan, with full margins ( 7/8 to 1 5/8 inches), in excellent condition.

Feininger estate stamp in the bottom right sheet corner.

This print was also titled by the artist Segler, Segel-Schiffe, Kreuzende Schiffe (and that’s the title he used in this impression), and Ships.

Prasse notes that there were proofs made on carbon copy paper and Kozo and other Japanese laid paper (the latter two types were Feininger’s favorite papers).Collections: Altenburg, Braunschweig; Bremen; Cincinnati CIAM (proof); Cleveland CMA (proof); Darmstadt BA (proof); Dresden (185/250); Essen; Kaiserslautern (11/150); Karlsruhe (XIV/XXV0); Leipzig MdbK (24/150); Philadelphia PMA; Tel Aviv; Trenton (proof); Washington NGA; Zwickau.

Hafendock (Harbor Dock) – 1919, Woodcut.

Prasse W154, 1919, only state, . No published edition–one of only a few known proofs. Signed in pencil and numbered 1934 (the artist’s work number, not the date) in the bottom center margin. Estate stamped and numbered W 716 in pencil, in the bottom left sheet corner.

Image size 3 3/8 x 3 1/2 inches (86 x 89 mm); sheet size 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (140 x 216 mm).

A fine, black impression, on tan carbon-copy paper, with full margins (3/4 to 2 9/16 inches), in excellent condition. Very scarce.

Prasse notes that “Five proofs on green carbon-copy paper (one unsigned and one on which the artist has penciled “Briefkopf”) and Mino copy and other Japanese laid paper. ”

$7400.

Kirche und Dorf (Church and Village)- 1919, Woodcut.

Prasse W18. No published edition–one of only a few proofs. Signed in pencil and numbered 1814 (the artist’s work number) in the artist’s hand, bottom center margin. Estate stamped and numbered W 37 in pencil, in the bottom right sheet corner.

Image size 3 3/8 x 4 5/8 inches (86 x 117 mm); sheet size 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (140 x 216 mm).

A fine, black impression, on oatmeal-tan carbon-copy paper, with full margins (3/4 to 2 9/16 inches), in excellent condition. Very scarce.

Prasse notes “Proofs chiefly on oatmeal-tan carbon copy paper and pink tissue paper; one on yellow Kozo paper.”

$7800.

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956),  Old Mill,  etching, 1911-12, signed, dated, and titled in pencil lower margin; Prasse E42. Also signed in the plate as “Leinoel Einfinger”; an impression from the Feininger estate, and with the estate stamp lower right. On beige laid paper, in good condition, with pale light and mat stain. With full margins, the plate is 5 3/8 x 8 3/8, the sheet 9 3/4 x 13 5/8 inches.

Lyonel Feininger was born in New York, in 1871, to parents who were distinguished concert musicians. He became an infant prodigy himself, studying piano and violin, and in 1887 was sent to Hamburg for further study. But he quickly decided to switch to art, and art schools, spending some time in Paris in 1892-3. On his return to Berlin he became a cartoonist and political caricaturist, a career he continued for about 14 years. In 1906 a lucrative contract with the Chicago Sunday Tribune enabled him to move to Paris for two years, where he decided to get serious artistically.

At just the same time as he was doing The Old Mill (Alte Windmuhle), he was becoming familiar with Cubism – the movement that was to be instrumental in shaping his work from then on. An abstract modernist, Lyonel Feininger was part of the founding of the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany in 1919 along with Walter Gropius. He stayed there for the next six years.During those years, he formed the group including Kandinsky and Klee known as the “Blue Four” and they exhibited in New York City and Germany. After he left Germany in the mid 1930s, several of his paintings that had been confiscated were shown in the Nazi government exhibition of “Degenerate Art” held in Munich in 1937. In 1937 he returned to the U.S permanently, where he had always maintained his citizenship, and became a resident of New York until his death in 1956.

The scene in Old Mill is Swinemunde, where the Swine flows into the Baltic Sea.

$9750