LYONEL FEININGER - AN AMERICAN IN BERLIN

On the 150th anniversary of Lyonel Feininger’s birth – the untold life of a man who was one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Lyonel Feininger left an impression on Bauhaus like no other. Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School, invited Feininger to become a Bauhaus ‘master’ from the first to the very last day – from 1919 until its dissolution by the National Socialists in 1933. Together with his friends Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, he revolutionized art. Later Lyonel Feininger became so popular and was so assimilated into everyday culture that his pictures were available as posters in a large Swedish furniture store. Born in New York in 1871, he lived in Germany for almost half a century from the age of 17 onwards. He spent most of this time in Berlin, where the most enigmatic episodes of his life also took place. Why did he remain, although he was registered as an ‘enemy alien’ during World War I? And why did he not leave Nazi Germany until 1937 even though he was married to a Jewish woman and was the father of three sons? The dilemma of a double exile existence is reflected in the painter’s personality. Andreas Platthaus, who was able to consult numerous archives for this book, recounts the life of a man who found himself in a constant dichotomy between his American and German identities.