Lyonel Feininger

Estate Julia Feininger, New York

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Lyonel Feininger. Menschenbilder. Eine unbekannte Welt, 24 October 2003 - 1 February 2004, no. 89, p. 97, illustrated

Berlin, Moeller Fine Art, Lyonel Feininger: Zeichnungen und Aquarelle aus dem Julia-Feininger-Nachlass, 29 March – 28 May 2011, no. 6

New York, Moeller Fine Art, Lyonel Feininger, Drawings and Watercolors from the Julia Feininger Estate, 27 June - 28 October 2011, no. 6

• A significant work on paper from the artist's pivotal pre-First World War period.
• Demonstrates the immediate transition from caricature to high-modernist Cubism.
• Exceptional linear energy realized through Feininger's distinctive fractured, crystalline drawing style.

The Geranium Pot is a dynamic and compelling ink drawing created in 1914, capturing a moment between two figures. Executed with remarkable linear economy, the scene shows a taller figure, who holds the titular potted geranium, greeting a smaller one. This drawing represents a moment of unusually engaging specificity within Feininger's rapidly developing style. While the angular, fragmented forms are typical of his turn toward Cubism, the subject itself, an explicit figural scene, is a departure from the grand, depopulated architectural and marine compositions for which he is most renowned. The inclusion of the two figures, rendered with a grotesque, almost comical exaggeration that echoes his early career as a caricaturist, provides a fascinating hybridity. It acts as a bridge between his illustrative past and his abstract future, showcasing his ability to apply his evolving formal language to narrative moments.

Feininger's continued institutional relevance has been established through major global exhibitions. Notably, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, mounted the retrospective Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World in 2011. More recently, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt dedicated the first major German retrospective to the artist in over 25 years, running from late 2023 to early 2024. These exhibitions confirm his lasting importance as a central figure connecting German Expressionism, Cubism, and the founding principles of the Bauhaus.