Lehnstedt
1919
Medium
woodcut in black on laid paper
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1944.5.6
Art Historical Context
Lyonel Feininger’s 1919 woodcut *Lehnstedt* captures the artist’s distinctive approach to form and light during a pivotal moment in modern art. Created shortly after the end of World War I, the print reflects Feininger’s deep engagement with German Expressionism and the emerging Bauhaus movement, which he joined as a master in 1919. The title likely refers to a small German locale, rendered through the artist’s characteristic crystalline structures and angular planes that suggest both architecture and atmosphere. Executed in black ink on laid paper, the woodcut medium allowed Feininger to exp...
About the Artist
Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) was born in New York City to German-American parents who were accomplished musicians. At sixteen he was sent to Hamburg to pursue musical training, but upon arriving in Germany he turned instead to visual art, enrolling in the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Hamburg and subsequently at the Königliche Akademie der Künste in Berlin, where he studied painting. He subsequently...