Tracing Feininger | Nature Studies from the Collection of Alois J. Schardt (Part 1)

Dear Friends,

I’m pleased to present part one of a newsletter series focused on nature studies by Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) from the collection of the distinguished art historian and museum director Alois J. Schardt (1889–1955).

Feininger referred to his pencil-on-paper sketches of anything that caught his eye—from a village church in Thuringia to clouds over the Baltic Sea—as “nature studies.” He began making these quick sketches when he was a student in Berlin in the 1880s, and perfected his technique through life-drawing classes at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Delécluse during a stay in Paris in the winter of 1892–93. His nature studies served as continual training for his eye and hand, and provided him with the foundation for his work.

Feininger produced many nature studies. He almost always dated them, and often recorded the names of the villages he loved to sketch, but he rarely signed them. He ordered them into folders, creating an archive in which he could rediscover a sketch made recently or decades ago, which would spark inspiration for a print, watercolor, or painting.

Here we present six special nature studies, five of which are among the rare works that Feininger signed. They capture glimpses of his visits to Normandy in 1906; stays beside the Baltic Sea in 1908 and 1922; and the first summer he spent in Braunlage in the Harz Mountains in 1917. The works reflect Feininger’s versatility as a draftsman, as he ranged from depicting haystacks in Normandy in a style reminiscent of Monet, to a cubistic rendering of the church of Gelmeroda (a subject he returned to often), to intricately detailed renderings of a lively pier and the pattern of clouds over the Baltic Sea, which he ended up using as the base for the paintings On the Quay I, 1908, and The Island, 1923.

"I have made drawings and studies from nature for close to thirty years (although I have never painted directly from nature)....I have mastered almost undreamed of natural phenomena of light refraction, perspective (but not the one taught in books!), and the coordination and harmonizing of masses."

-Lyonel Feininger to Alfred Kubin, September 28, 1916

Schardt and Feininger had a long friendship. It began when Schardt was serving as an assistant in the Egyptian collection of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin, and became interested in the Bauhaus. Wanting to connect with the artists in this movement, he reached out to Feininger in 1919. Four years later, in 1923, Schardt became director of the Neue Schule in Hellerau, where Feininger sent his sons Laurence and T. Lux. In 1926, Schardt became the director of the museum in the Moritzburg in Halle (Saale). There he built a collection of modern art, for which he acquired several works by Feininger. He also recommended the artist to the mayor of Halle (Saale) for a commission of a painting of the city to be presented to the district president in Magdeburg. Feininger worked on the commission from 1929 to 1931, staying with Schardt and his family. It turned out to be a fruitful period, with Feininger producing 11 paintings, as well as numerous drawings and watercolors.

In 1933, Schardt was appointed director of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The rise of the Nazis cut short his tenure. He ended up emigrating from Germany with his family and settling in the United States, where Feininger helped resolve an issue they encountered when they arrived on Ellis Island. In addition to writing several essays about Feininger, Schardt kept up a correspondence with him. The hundreds of letters they wrote to one another attest to their deep friendship. Another mark of their friendship may be seen in the significant number of works that Feininger gave to Schardt, including the nature studies we’re delighted to highlight.

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All nature studies are for sale, subject to availability. Prices upon request.
Kind regards,
Achim Moeller