Lyonel Feininger
Schiffe mit Spiegelungen
1919
Woodcut on ribbed laid paper. Letterhead on a letter sent to Dr. Koch, Graphisches Kabinett von Bergh & Co., Düsseldorf, by the artist on July 21, 1920 8.3 x 8.4 cm (28.5 x 20.5 cm) Framed under glass. The letter signed 'Hochachtungsvoll!/ Lyonel Feininger/ Staatliches Bauhaus/ Weimar, d. 21. Juli, 1920' by the artist in black pen and ink. Here, Feininger uses the 2nd state of the woodcut as letterhead (slightly differing from Prasse's details on the motif, cf. Prasse W 156 III). - The letter with a horizontal as well as vertical trace of a fold at the centre. - Overall browned with minor foxing.
The letter deals with the settlement of accounts for some works sent to Dr. Hans Koch at the Graphische Kabinett of Bergh & Co. and also concerns water colours that the artist missed and expected to be returned to Weimar. In March 1920, the Graphische Kabinett in Düsseldorf exhibited works by Lyonel Feininger. In June, Dr. Koch retired from the Kabinett and handed it over to the Berlin art dealer I.B. Neumann.
Catalogue Raisonné
Prasse W 156 II von III (2nd state)
Provenance
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Literature
Peter Barth, Von Nolde bis Dix. Der Düsseldorfer Arzt, Sammler und Kunsthändler Dr. Hans Koch und "Das Graphische Kabinett von Bergh & Co.", Galerie Remmert und Barth, Düsseldorf 1994/1995, p. 28 with illus.