Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Feininger by Emil Orlik, 1906
Born	(1871-07-17)July 17, 1871 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	January 13, 1956(1956-01-13) (aged 84) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	German-American
Known for	Painting, Cartoonist, Photography
Movement	Expressionism, Cubism, Blaue Reiter, Die Brücke, Berlin Secession, Novembergruppe
Elected	American Academy of Arts and Letters (1955)

Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871 – January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City, traveling to Germany at 16 to study and perfect his art. He started his career as a cartoonist in 1894 and met with much success in this area. He was also a commercial caricaturist for 20 years for magazines and newspapers in the USA and Germany. At the age of 36, he started to work as a fine artist. He also produced a large body of photographic works between 1928 and the mid 1950s, but he kept these primarily within his circle of friends. He was also a pianist and composer, with several piano compositions and fugues for organ extant.

Lyonel Feininger was born to German-American violinist and composer Karl Feininger and American singer Elizabeth Feininger. He was born and grew up in New York City, but traveled to Germany at the age of 16 in 1887 to study. In 1888, he moved to Berlin and studied at the Königliche Akademie Berlin under Ernst Hancke. He continued his studies at art schools in Berlin with Karl Schlabitz, and in Paris with sculptor Filippo Colarossi. He started as a caricaturist for several magazines including Harper's Round Table, Harper's Young People, Humoristische Blätter, Lustige Blätter, Das Narrenschiff, Berliner Tageblatt and Ulk.

In 1900, he met Clara Fürst, daughter of the painter Gustav Fürst. He married her in 1901, and they had two daughters. In 1905, he separated from his wife after meeting Julia Berg. He married Berg in 1908 and had several children with her.

The artist was represented with drawings at the exhibitions of the annual Berlin Secession in the years 1901 through 1903.