Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Feininger was an American-German painter and caricaturist who became one of the original masters at the Bauhaus in Weimar. When the Bauhaus was founded in 1919, Gropius appointed Feininger as the first master of the printmaking workshop; it was Feininger who created the famous woodcut "Cathedral" for the cover of the Bauhaus Manifesto. Having lived in Germany for many years, Feininger brought to Weimar a unique blend of Cubist and Expressionist style. During his Bauhaus period (1919–1925), he taught graphics and contributed significantly to the school's visual identity. He also continued his own art – in Weimar he began a series of works depicting architectural forms, including theGelmeroda series: cubistic views of a village church near Weimar that he painted repeatedly (e.g. "Church of Gelmeroda" variations). Feininger's sharp lines and crystalline forms resonated with Bauhaus design principles. Though primarily a fine artist at the Bauhaus, he bridged the gap between applied arts and painting. After the move to Dessau, he eventually left Nazi Germany and returned to America in 1937. In Weimar, Feininger's legacy lives on in the city's appreciation of modern art; his "Gelmeroda IX" hangs in the Neues Museum Weimar. Feininger is remembered as the Bauhaus master who captured Weimar's spirit in angular, prismatic imagery – linking its medieval church spires to the futuristic aesthetic of the 20th century.