Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World

Long recognized as a major figure of the Bauhaus, Lyonel Feininger is universally lauded for his romantic, crystalline depictions of village churches and seascapes. Less well known are the whimsical aspects of his work: his figurative, Expressionist compositions; his photographs; and his miniature hand-carved, painted wooden figures and buildings, known as City at the Edge of the World and hosted now by the the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The Whitney Museum presents the first retrospective to ever include all aspects of Feininger’s art. A monograph accompanying the exhibition features an essay covering the full breadth of Feininger’s career, tracing his relationship with groups and institutions that defined the development of modern art, including Cubism, the Blaue Reiter, the Blue Four, the Bauhaus, and Black Mountain College. The show will travel to The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, January 16, 2012.

Born and raised in New York, Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) moved at the age of sixteen to Germany, where he became one of the leading practitioners of German Expressionism and the Bauhaus. In the late 1930s, when the Nazi campaign against modern art forced him to flee back to New York, his marriage of abstraction imagery made him a beloved artist in the United States.

Date: until October 16.
Place: The Whitney Museum of American Art. 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street. New York, NY 10021.
Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Fridays from 1pm to 9pm.