Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower left. 60.5 x 62.5 cm. [AR].
• Blending formal rigor with narrative poetry, “Auf der Brücke” epitomizes the radical change in Feininger's style at the time. • In a letter, the artist described the creative phase as “the first period of maturity in my artistic life”. • The 'Steinbrücke' (Stone Bridge) in Oberweimar is a key motif in his oeuvre; he dedicated several very different paintings to the historic structure. • Around the same time, Feininger began his famous cycle of paintings "Gelmeroda I-III". • In the same year, Franz Marc invited him to participate in Herwarth Walden's “Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon” (First German Autumn Salon), in 1917, Walden's gallery “Der Sturm” organized his first solo exhibition. • The last painting showing the Stone Bridge was created in 1943 and is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. • Recently featured in in several museum shows, such as the highly acclaimed retrospective at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, Oct. 2023 - Feb. 2024. • From the sought-after period of the early 1910s: Feininger's figurative paintings from these years are among the artist's most sought-after works on the international auction market (source: artprice.com). Achim Moeller, director of the Lyonel Feininger Project, New York-Berlin, has confirmed the authenticity of this work, it is registered in the Lyonel Feininger Project's archive under the number 1620-09-06-19. The work is accompanied by a certificate. The painting is included in Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Achim Moeller under the number 121. Additional information was provided by Achim Moeller, The Lyonel Feininger Project, New York - Berlin. LITERATURE: Achim Moeller, Auf der Brücke (On the Bridge), 1913 (Moeller 121), in: Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, http://feiningerproject.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=123 (accessed on May 5, 2025). Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Œuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, London 1961, catalogue raisonné no. 111 (illustrated on p. 257). Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Œuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, Stuttgart 1959, catalogue raisonné no. 111 (illustrated on p. 258). - - Roman Norbert Ketterer, L. Feininger. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik, Campione d'Italia 1965, cat. no. 2 (illustrated in color on p. 6). Roman Norbert Ketterer, Moderne Kunst II. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, inventory catalog, Stuttgart 1965, no. 32 (illustrated in color on p. 45). Florens Deuchler, Lyonel Feininger. Sein Weg zum Bauhaus-Meister, Leipzig 1996, p. 197. Gerd Presler (ed.), Roman Norbert Ketterer, Legenden am Auktionspult. Die Wiederentdeckung des deutschen Expressionismus, Munich 1999, p. 157. Knut Hamsun, Fame, Milan 2002, front cover (illustrated in color). REFERENCES: Correspondence between the Galerie Ferdinand Möller and Dr. Wilhelm Fulda and his brothers Otto and Dr. Ernst Fulda, 1948-1952, Ferdinand Möller Estate, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-206-M76,1-33, fol. 25.
Admittedly, Feininger's characteristic figures still occupy the center of “Auf der Brücke.” However, dressed in the tall hats and long, jagged coats that were so typical of Feininger, they, too, reveal a progressive, formal reduction. As anonymous figures with rather gloomy, mystical overtones, they increasingly cede the stage to the architecture and the natural spectacle. They maintain a balance between the formal, geometric austerity of the composition and a suggested poetic narrative thread reminiscent of the novels of Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac, which Feininger was enthusiastic about at the time. As such, the work “Auf der Brücke” not only represents a transfer between the two banks of the Ilm in Oberweimar in terms of motif but can also be understood as a symbolic transition from Feininger's figurative style to his geometric-cubist works and the pioneering crystalline-prismatic works that would ultimately emerge from them. That same year, Feininger began the famous cycle of paintings “Gelmeroda I-III”, which belongs to the group of famous depictions of architecture, marking a further step in developing the artist's work. In the fall of 1913, he followed an invitation from Franz Marc to take part in Herwarth Walden's “Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon” (First German Autumn Salon), which showcased the avant-garde of the time in a group exhibition. Walden's gallery “Der Sturm” would eventually host Lyonel Feininger's first solo exhibition in 1917. Consequently, “Auf der Brücke” is, both stylistically and in terms of public perception, exemplary of a leap in the artist's evolution, which he referred to in a letter to Julia dated May 18, 1913, as “[...] the first mature period in my artistic existence” (Lyonel Feininger in a letter to Julia Feininger, Weimar, May 18, 1913). In recent years, the work has received increased attention through several group exhibitions, and it was shown in, among others, the highly acclaimed retrospective of Lyonel Feininger's work at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main. This was a long overdue appreciation of a body of work that is so meaningful for Lyonel Feininger's development on his way to becoming one of the most important artists of Modern Art. Alfred Hentzen once described Feininger's outstanding lifetime achievement with the beautiful words: “Feininger's work miraculously unites strict, crystalline clarity with pure, romantic poetry” (Alfred Hentzen, quoted from the preface of the exhibition catalog for the memorial exhibition in Hamburg/Essen/Baden-Baden in 1961, preface). [AR]
Lyonel Feininger 1871-1956: Memorial Exhibition, Kunstverein Hamburg, January 21-March 5, 1961; Museum Folkwang, Essen, March 15-May 7, 1961; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, May 14-June 26, 1961, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in color). L'Espressionismo: Pittura, scultura, architettura, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, May-June 1964, cat. no. 86, p. 67. Die Feiningers: Ein Familienbild am Bauhaus, Lyonel Feininger Galerie, Quedlinburg, May 25 - September 2, 2019. A Collector's Choice - Picasso, Miró, Schlemmer & Co., Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso, Münster, February 4 - May 14, 2023, cat. no. 52 (illustrated in color on p. 99). Lyonel Feininger. Retrospective, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a. Main, October 27, 2023-February 18, 2024, no cat. no. (illustrated in color on p. 48). Courage. Lehmbruck und die Avantgarde, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, June 16 - October 6, 2024 (illustrated in color on p. 92)
Dr. Wilhelm Fulda Collection, Lauta-Werk, Lauta/Lausitz (until 1950, probably acquired from Galerie Ferdinand Möller, Berlin). Hedwig Fulda, Sangershausen (inherited from the above in 1950). Wigbert Langguth, Munich/Lohof (from above family estate, until 1965). Hans Ravenborg Collection, Hamburg (acquired from the above through Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione d'Italia, in 1965, until 2001). Private collection, Germany (acquired from the above through Christie's in 2001, until 2007). Private collection. Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Lyonel Feininger and the bridge in Oberweimar In February 1906, Lyonel Feininger traveled to Weimar for the first time. He visited Julia Berg, whom he had first met on a train bound for the Baltic Sea the year before and for whom he would soon leave his first wife, the pianist Clara Fürst. Julia Berg had been attending university in Weimar since January, and on strolls through the city of Classicism, she discovered a historic building that would inspire Lyonel Feininger to create several works. Shortly after her arrival, she must have written to him about the impressive architecture of the sturdy four-arch stone bridge over the Ilm in Oberweimar because on January 17, 1906, Lyonel Feininger replied: “[...] I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing the bridge [...]” (quoted from: Roland März (ed.), Lyonel Feininger. Von Gelmeroda nach Manhattan, Berlin 1998, p. 60). A month later, when Lyonel Feininger finally came to Weimar to see the bridge with his own eyes, his anticipation would not be disappointed, as further letters and, ultimately, this work reveal. As was so often the case, Lyonel Feininger was instantly captivated by the bridge and revisited the motif even more than ten years later. In addition to many drawings, he also created seven paintings depicting the bridge between 1912 and 1919, exploring the motif in various variations and repeatedly pushing his creative boundaries. The first painting from 1912 is titled “Bridge O” and still bears Lyonel Feininger's figurative style from his early days as a painter. Yet the first tendencies towards exploring Cubism can already be seen here. During a trip to Paris in 1911, Lyonel Feininger first came into contact with Cubism through works by Robert Delaunay - impressions that were to have a lasting influence on his style in the years that followed, as this first depiction of the bridge suggests. Two further paintings in which he examined the bridge in Oberweimar followed as early as 1913: “Brücke I” and the present “Auf der Brücke”. Although the two works show the structure from different perspectives, they resemble each other in the choice of cool colors, a higher degree of abstraction, and a growing use of reduced geometric forms. They were created during another several-month stay in Weimar. In the meantime, Julia and Lyonel had married and were living in Berlin with their three sons, Andreas, Laurence, and Theodore. For the artist, this period in Weimar around 1913 was a phase of artistic freedom and creative renewal that ultimately ushered in an essential change in his artistic style. “Auf der Brücke": Symbol of the stylistic change around 1913 Under the impression of his stay in Paris and the growing popularity of Cubism he witnessed there, Feininger gradually abandoned his figurative compositions, which still showed traces of his background in caricature. In a letter to Julia in April 1913, he noted, “I am beginning to work well and happily; what I do comes very naturally to me and is no longer a problem. I don't want to reveal a single word about it, only that I am improving daily, becoming clearer, and finding myself. I am happy when I step out of the house into the open air; there is no loneliness for me here!” (Lyonel Feininger in a letter to Julia Feininger, Weimar, April 7, 1913) Although Cubism influenced him, he did not wholly devote himself to this strange style. However, as was so characteristic of his artistic development, he found a way to continue shaping his artistic aspirations regardless of external impulses.
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Lot Details
Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower left. 60.5 x 62.5 cm. [AR].
• Blending formal rigor with narrative poetry, “Auf der Brücke” epitomizes the radical change in Feininger's style at the time. • In a letter, the artist described the creative phase as “the first period of maturity in my artistic life”. • The 'Steinbrücke' (Stone Bridge) in Oberweimar is a key motif in his oeuvre; he dedicated several very different paintings to the historic structure. • Around the same time, Feininger began his famous cycle of paintings "Gelmeroda I-III". • In the same year, Franz Marc invited him to participate in Herwarth Walden's “Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon” (First German Autumn Salon), in 1917, Walden's gallery “Der Sturm” organized his first solo exhibition. • The last painting showing the Stone Bridge was created in 1943 and is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. • Recently featured in in several museum shows, such as the highly acclaimed retrospective at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, Oct. 2023 - Feb. 2024. • From the sought-after period of the early 1910s: Feininger's figurative paintings from these years are among the artist's most sought-after works on the international auction market (source: artprice.com). Achim Moeller, director of the Lyonel Feininger Project, New York-Berlin, has confirmed the authenticity of this work, it is registered in the Lyonel Feininger Project's archive under the number 1620-09-06-19. The work is accompanied by a certificate. The painting is included in Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Achim Moeller under the number 121. Additional information was provided by Achim Moeller, The Lyonel Feininger Project, New York - Berlin. LITERATURE: Achim Moeller, Auf der Brücke (On the Bridge), 1913 (Moeller 121), in: Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, http://feiningerproject.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=123 (accessed on May 5, 2025). Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Œuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, London 1961, catalogue raisonné no. 111 (illustrated on p. 257). Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Œuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, Stuttgart 1959, catalogue raisonné no. 111 (illustrated on p. 258). - - Roman Norbert Ketterer, L. Feininger. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik, Campione d'Italia 1965, cat. no. 2 (illustrated in color on p. 6). Roman Norbert Ketterer, Moderne Kunst II. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, inventory catalog, Stuttgart 1965, no. 32 (illustrated in color on p. 45). Florens Deuchler, Lyonel Feininger. Sein Weg zum Bauhaus-Meister, Leipzig 1996, p. 197. Gerd Presler (ed.), Roman Norbert Ketterer, Legenden am Auktionspult. Die Wiederentdeckung des deutschen Expressionismus, Munich 1999, p. 157. Knut Hamsun, Fame, Milan 2002, front cover (illustrated in color). REFERENCES: Correspondence between the Galerie Ferdinand Möller and Dr. Wilhelm Fulda and his brothers Otto and Dr. Ernst Fulda, 1948-1952, Ferdinand Möller Estate, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-206-M76,1-33, fol. 25.
Admittedly, Feininger's characteristic figures still occupy the center of “Auf der Brücke.” However, dressed in the tall hats and long, jagged coats that were so typical of Feininger, they, too, reveal a progressive, formal reduction. As anonymous figures with rather gloomy, mystical overtones, they increasingly cede the stage to the architecture and the natural spectacle. They maintain a balance between the formal, geometric austerity of the composition and a suggested poetic narrative thread reminiscent of the novels of Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac, which Feininger was enthusiastic about at the time. As such, the work “Auf der Brücke” not only represents a transfer between the two banks of the Ilm in Oberweimar in terms of motif but can also be understood as a symbolic transition from Feininger's figurative style to his geometric-cubist works and the pioneering crystalline-prismatic works that would ultimately emerge from them. That same year, Feininger began the famous cycle of paintings “Gelmeroda I-III”, which belongs to the group of famous depictions of architecture, marking a further step in developing the artist's work. In the fall of 1913, he followed an invitation from Franz Marc to take part in Herwarth Walden's “Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon” (First German Autumn Salon), which showcased the avant-garde of the time in a group exhibition. Walden's gallery “Der Sturm” would eventually host Lyonel Feininger's first solo exhibition in 1917. Consequently, “Auf der Brücke” is, both stylistically and in terms of public perception, exemplary of a leap in the artist's evolution, which he referred to in a letter to Julia dated May 18, 1913, as “[...] the first mature period in my artistic existence” (Lyonel Feininger in a letter to Julia Feininger, Weimar, May 18, 1913). In recent years, the work has received increased attention through several group exhibitions, and it was shown in, among others, the highly acclaimed retrospective of Lyonel Feininger's work at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main. This was a long overdue appreciation of a body of work that is so meaningful for Lyonel Feininger's development on his way to becoming one of the most important artists of Modern Art. Alfred Hentzen once described Feininger's outstanding lifetime achievement with the beautiful words: “Feininger's work miraculously unites strict, crystalline clarity with pure, romantic poetry” (Alfred Hentzen, quoted from the preface of the exhibition catalog for the memorial exhibition in Hamburg/Essen/Baden-Baden in 1961, preface). [AR]
Lyonel Feininger 1871-1956: Memorial Exhibition, Kunstverein Hamburg, January 21-March 5, 1961; Museum Folkwang, Essen, March 15-May 7, 1961; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, May 14-June 26, 1961, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in color). L'Espressionismo: Pittura, scultura, architettura, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, May-June 1964, cat. no. 86, p. 67. Die Feiningers: Ein Familienbild am Bauhaus, Lyonel Feininger Galerie, Quedlinburg, May 25 - September 2, 2019. A Collector's Choice - Picasso, Miró, Schlemmer & Co., Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso, Münster, February 4 - May 14, 2023, cat. no. 52 (illustrated in color on p. 99). Lyonel Feininger. Retrospective, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a. Main, October 27, 2023-February 18, 2024, no cat. no. (illustrated in color on p. 48). Courage. Lehmbruck und die Avantgarde, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, June 16 - October 6, 2024 (illustrated in color on p. 92)
Dr. Wilhelm Fulda Collection, Lauta-Werk, Lauta/Lausitz (until 1950, probably acquired from Galerie Ferdinand Möller, Berlin). Hedwig Fulda, Sangershausen (inherited from the above in 1950). Wigbert Langguth, Munich/Lohof (from above family estate, until 1965). Hans Ravenborg Collection, Hamburg (acquired from the above through Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione d'Italia, in 1965, until 2001). Private collection, Germany (acquired from the above through Christie's in 2001, until 2007). Private collection. Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Lyonel Feininger and the bridge in Oberweimar In February 1906, Lyonel Feininger traveled to Weimar for the first time. He visited Julia Berg, whom he had first met on a train bound for the Baltic Sea the year before and for whom he would soon leave his first wife, the pianist Clara Fürst. Julia Berg had been attending university in Weimar since January, and on strolls through the city of Classicism, she discovered a historic building that would inspire Lyonel Feininger to create several works. Shortly after her arrival, she must have written to him about the impressive architecture of the sturdy four-arch stone bridge over the Ilm in Oberweimar because on January 17, 1906, Lyonel Feininger replied: “[...] I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing the bridge [...]” (quoted from: Roland März (ed.), Lyonel Feininger. Von Gelmeroda nach Manhattan, Berlin 1998, p. 60). A month later, when Lyonel Feininger finally came to Weimar to see the bridge with his own eyes, his anticipation would not be disappointed, as further letters and, ultimately, this work reveal. As was so often the case, Lyonel Feininger was instantly captivated by the bridge and revisited the motif even more than ten years later. In addition to many drawings, he also created seven paintings depicting the bridge between 1912 and 1919, exploring the motif in various variations and repeatedly pushing his creative boundaries. The first painting from 1912 is titled “Bridge O” and still bears Lyonel Feininger's figurative style from his early days as a painter. Yet the first tendencies towards exploring Cubism can already be seen here. During a trip to Paris in 1911, Lyonel Feininger first came into contact with Cubism through works by Robert Delaunay - impressions that were to have a lasting influence on his style in the years that followed, as this first depiction of the bridge suggests. Two further paintings in which he examined the bridge in Oberweimar followed as early as 1913: “Brücke I” and the present “Auf der Brücke”. Although the two works show the structure from different perspectives, they resemble each other in the choice of cool colors, a higher degree of abstraction, and a growing use of reduced geometric forms. They were created during another several-month stay in Weimar. In the meantime, Julia and Lyonel had married and were living in Berlin with their three sons, Andreas, Laurence, and Theodore. For the artist, this period in Weimar around 1913 was a phase of artistic freedom and creative renewal that ultimately ushered in an essential change in his artistic style. “Auf der Brücke": Symbol of the stylistic change around 1913 Under the impression of his stay in Paris and the growing popularity of Cubism he witnessed there, Feininger gradually abandoned his figurative compositions, which still showed traces of his background in caricature. In a letter to Julia in April 1913, he noted, “I am beginning to work well and happily; what I do comes very naturally to me and is no longer a problem. I don't want to reveal a single word about it, only that I am improving daily, becoming clearer, and finding myself. I am happy when I step out of the house into the open air; there is no loneliness for me here!” (Lyonel Feininger in a letter to Julia Feininger, Weimar, April 7, 1913) Although Cubism influenced him, he did not wholly devote himself to this strange style. However, as was so characteristic of his artistic development, he found a way to continue shaping his artistic aspirations regardless of external impulses.
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Lyonel Feininger 
