Picture "The Watch Tower" (1947) (Unique piece) New

Picture "The Watch Tower" (1947) (Unique piece) New
Quick info
unique piece | signed | dated | inscribed | watercolour and ink on paper | framed | size 46.5 x 56 cm
Detailed description
Picture "The Watch Tower" (1947) (Unique piece)
The watercolour "The Watch Tower" by Lyonel Feininger captivates with its vibrant colours and harmonious composition. The work combines key motifs of his artistic oeuvre: the maritime world with the sea and ships, as well as architectural elements.
Characteristic of Feininger's style are the precise, linear lines of ink that frame all the objects in the picture. The watercolour is applied in a translucent manner, giving the scenery a light, almost dematerialised effect. This transparency lends the picture a special abstraction. The deliberate combination of geometric forms and soft colour transitions reflects Feininger's modern, visionary interpretation of traditional motifs.
"The Watch Tower" also carries a personal touch: Lyonel Feininger gifted it to his daughter-in-law Jeanne Feininger for Christmas in 1947. In his dedication, he used his family nickname "Papileo," making the work a significant testament to both his art and his familial affection.
Watercolour and ink on paper, 1947, signed and dated, inscribed on the back: "MERRY XMAS! To Jeanne, from Papileo with much love. 1947." With expert's report by Achim Moeller, The Lyonel Feininger Project LLC. Motif size 16 x 25 cm. Sheet size 20 x 28.5 cm. Size in frame 46.5 x 56 cm as shown.
Producer: ARTES Kunsthandelsgesellschaft mbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hannover, Deutschland E-Mail: info@kunsthaus-artes.de

About Lyonel Feininger
1871-1956
Lyonel Feininger is known for his depictions of streets, cities and ships, which are composed of prismatically broken forms and inspired by Cubism and the art of Robert Delaunay.
The painter and graphic artist was born in New York in 1871 as the son of German musicians. He first came to Germany at the age of 16 for a concert tour of his parents and stayed there to study at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts and later at the Royal Prussian Academy in Berlin. After a study visit to Paris, he continued living and working for many years in Germany, where he was close to the "Blauer Reiter" artists' group. Starting in 1919, he made his mark as a master for the graphic workshops of "Bauhaus" in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin.
Feininger, along with Schlemmer, most explicitly realised the Bauhaus ideal of order. For him, the starting point is not the human figure but architecture, the strict geometric structure of forms that he observed in Gothic churches. His studies of the architecture of small German towns established his light-flooded, prismatic style, which was to become a model for many artists.
Feininger first devoted himself to German townscapes and churches. During the National Socialist era, the Nazi Party officially declared Feininger’s work to be "degenerate", which forced him to return to New York in 1937. There he created his famous impressions of the architecture of Manhattan and New York.
Painting with glazing watercolours, that are characterised by their transparency, which let deeper layers and painting surfaces shine through.
Often the paper surface is omitted. This contributes significantly to the effect of the work. The aquarelle or watercolour painting requires skilful use of colour, as it dries quickly and corrections are almost impossible.
Graphic artwork in the making of which the artist combines at least two graphic techniques.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art that has been personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolours, drawing, etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there exist the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a type of modern art, that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
In the history of arts, the starting point of this trend was the work "Les Meules" (1890/1891) by Claude Monet, in which for the first time a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.