Lyonel Feininger
Biography
Lyonel Feininger, born in New York in 1871, was the first master Walter Gropius called to the Bauhaus in Weimar, in May 1919, and the woodcut of a cathedral on the title page of the school's manifesto is his. He ran the printing workshop until 1925, lived with his family at Gutenbergstraße 16, and painted the churches and villages around Weimar — Gelmeroda above all — again and again. He followed the school to Dessau, left Germany for the United States in 1937 when his work was branded degenerate, and died in New York in 1956.
The manifesto's cathedral, 1919
In May 1919 Walter Gropius called Feininger to the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar as one of its very first masters, to lead the graphic workshop, and the woodcut on the title page of the Bauhaus manifesto of that year is his: a cathedral in crystalline planes.[1][2] A school that wanted to end the division between artist and craftsman announced itself with a medieval building.
Form master of the printing workshop, 1919–1925
He led the printing workshops until 1925, and in a school built of workshops that made him responsible for how the Bauhaus looked on paper.[2][3] He was a painter throughout — since 1915 he had been painting in the small towns and villages of Thuringia, Gelmeroda, Vollersroda and Gaberndorf among them.[3]
Gutenbergstraße 16, 1919–1926
From the summer of 1919 the family lived in the right-hand half of a semi-detached house at Gutenbergstraße 16 — through the whole of the school's Weimar years and on to the summer of 1926, when on 30 July they moved into one of the new masters' houses in Dessau.[4][2]
Gelmeroda, the church he painted again and again
The church at Gelmeroda, south of the town, is a choir-tower church whose oldest parts were built at the beginning of the thirteenth century; its shape drew Feininger back to draw and paint it over and over.[5] In 1994 it became the first church in the new federal states with the status of an Autobahnkirche, and the parish calls it the Feiningerkirche.[5]
Dessau, and America, 1926–1956
In Dessau he had himself released, at his own request, from all teaching duties.[2] Under the National Socialists his work was officially counted as degenerate art, and on 11 June 1937 he left Germany for the United States for good.[2][3] He lived in New York and spent the summers at Falls Village, Connecticut, and died in New York on 13 January 1956.[3][2]
Questions visitors ask
- What is Feininger's connection to the Bauhaus manifesto?
- The woodcut of a cathedral on the title page of the 1919 manifesto is his — the first image the school put into the world.
- What did Feininger do at the Bauhaus in Weimar?
- Called in May 1919 as one of the first masters, he led the graphic and printing workshops until 1925.
- Where did Feininger live in Weimar?
- In the right-hand half of a semi-detached house at Gutenbergstraße 16, from the summer of 1919 to the summer of 1926.
- Why is the church at Gelmeroda called the Feininger church?
- Because he drew and painted it over and over from 1915 on; the parish uses the name, and since 1994 the church has also been the first Autobahnkirche in the new federal states.
- What happened to Feininger after the Bauhaus?
- His work was branded degenerate art, and on 11 June 1937 he left Germany for the United States; he lived in New York and died there on 13 January 1956.
Sources (5)
- Lyonel Feininger — Biografie — Bauhaus Kooperation Berlin Dessau Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Lyonel Feininger — Wikipedia (de), retrieved 30 August 2026
- Feininger, Lyonel — Neue Deutsche Biographie 5 (1961), by Leonie von Wilckens — Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, retrieved 30 August 2026
- Bauhausstätten in Weimar — Stadt Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Kirche Gelmeroda — Autobahnkirche, Feiningerkirche — Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
Notable Works & Achievements
the woodcut Kathedrale on the 1919 Bauhaus manifesto
the Gelmeroda paintings
Connected Places in Weimar
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8, 99423 Weimar
He led the printing workshop in van de Velde's buildings from 1919 to 1925.
Stéphane-Hessel-Platz 1, 99423 Weimar
Work by Feininger is in the collection, from the school's Weimar years.
Petersgasse 33, 99428 Gelmeroda
The church he drew and painted over and over — the parish says its shape is what kept bringing him back.
Historical Context
The first master called, in May 1919; his woodcut is on the manifesto that founded the school.
The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar in 1919 and voted out by 1925 — time enough to change what a design school is, and not enough for the town that made it to keep it.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1871
1956
German-American
Historical figures
Historical figures
1893–1965 • painter • printmaker • art teacher
He apprenticed in the print shop under Feininger.
1883–1969 • architect • founder and director of the Bauhaus • teacher
Gropius called him in May 1919, among the first masters of the new school.
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
Six folded pages with a cathedral on the front — the document that told Weimar what the new school was for.
His woodcut of a cathedral is on the title page — the first image the Bauhaus put into the world.