Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
Donald H. Karshan
Margo Pollins Schab, Inc., New York, New York
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1996.
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
Lyonel Feininger
(American, 1871–1956)
Gelmeroda
1920
Woodcut on cream laid paper
Image: 19 1/4 x 17 in. (48.9 x 43.2 cm)
Sheet: 21 5/8 x 21 1/16 in. (54.9 x 53.5 cm)
Mat: 29 1/4 x 27 in. (74.3 x 68.6 cm)
Sheet: 21 5/8 x 21 1/16 in. (54.9 x 53.5 cm)
Mat: 29 1/4 x 27 in. (74.3 x 68.6 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1996.7
Copyright© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London
SignedIn graphite, lower left: Lyonel Feininger
InterpretationGelmeroda is an almost abstract image of the compact stone building and lofty pointed steeple of the old church in the village of Gelmeroda, located near Weimar, Germany. The architecture provided a point of departure for Feininger's image, with the thrusting spire the primary feature within a dynamic composition of parallel diagonals, steep angles, and geometric forms suggesting bright, crystalline pyramids. Dark areas striped with white, notably the central spire, play against white planes scored with dark lines.
Feininger made his first drawing of Gelmeroda's church in 1906 and made further on-site studies seven years later. The memory of the powerful structure inspired him several years later to create variant images in printmaking, painting, and drawing media. This work demonstrates his absorption of the techniques of the early twentieth-century artistic movement known as cubism, whose proponents abstracted objects to render them as arrangements of component planes and angels. In contrast to his earlier print The Gate (TF 1995.2), also inspired by German medieval village architecture, Gelmeroda retains a pretense of representation only through the dominant form of the recognizable spire, below which the assortment of dark angled shapes hints at the facets of its steeply pitched roof. The rest of the image is purely abstract, with the fragmented planes and sharp angles suggesting the fractured effect of brilliant light glinting off the spire in the brittle chill of winter.
Living in Germany, Feininger made numerous etchings prior to World War I. During the war, he turned to making woodcut prints as copper etching plates became scarce. He made 320 woodcuts in the course of his career, relishing the comparative technical ease of cutting away broad areas of wood from the block to leave the intended image in relief to receive the ink. Compatible with his personal aesthetic tendency toward brittle lines and sharp angles, the technique may also have appealed to Feininger because, like the village architecture he prized, it carried particular associations of his ancestral homeland. In Gelmeroda the faceted steeple and building, where the darkest areas congregate, correspond to a concentration of raised planes on the original block; the artist then scored these areas with a series of lines that show as white "modeling" in the print. He cut away most of the rest of the wood block, leaving in relief a network of thin ridges that printed as the black lines articulating the white geometric shapes. In this way, Feininger juxtaposed the solidity of the church building with an immaterial universe of abstract geometry.
Feininger made his first drawing of Gelmeroda's church in 1906 and made further on-site studies seven years later. The memory of the powerful structure inspired him several years later to create variant images in printmaking, painting, and drawing media. This work demonstrates his absorption of the techniques of the early twentieth-century artistic movement known as cubism, whose proponents abstracted objects to render them as arrangements of component planes and angels. In contrast to his earlier print The Gate (TF 1995.2), also inspired by German medieval village architecture, Gelmeroda retains a pretense of representation only through the dominant form of the recognizable spire, below which the assortment of dark angled shapes hints at the facets of its steeply pitched roof. The rest of the image is purely abstract, with the fragmented planes and sharp angles suggesting the fractured effect of brilliant light glinting off the spire in the brittle chill of winter.
Living in Germany, Feininger made numerous etchings prior to World War I. During the war, he turned to making woodcut prints as copper etching plates became scarce. He made 320 woodcuts in the course of his career, relishing the comparative technical ease of cutting away broad areas of wood from the block to leave the intended image in relief to receive the ink. Compatible with his personal aesthetic tendency toward brittle lines and sharp angles, the technique may also have appealed to Feininger because, like the village architecture he prized, it carried particular associations of his ancestral homeland. In Gelmeroda the faceted steeple and building, where the darkest areas congregate, correspond to a concentration of raised planes on the original block; the artist then scored these areas with a series of lines that show as white "modeling" in the print. He cut away most of the rest of the wood block, leaving in relief a network of thin ridges that printed as the black lines articulating the white geometric shapes. In this way, Feininger juxtaposed the solidity of the church building with an immaterial universe of abstract geometry.
Donald H. Karshan
Margo Pollins Schab, Inc., New York, New York
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1996.
Exhibition History
Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 2000.
L'Amérique et les Modernes, 1900–1950 (American Moderns, 1900–1950), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 25–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]
On Process: The American Print, Technique Examined, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 2, 2001.
Atelier 17: Modern Printmaking in the Americas (Atelier 17: Gravura moderna nas Américas, Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP) and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizer). Venue: Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), March 23–June 2, 2019. [exh. cat.]
L'Amérique et les Modernes, 1900–1950 (American Moderns, 1900–1950), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 25–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]
On Process: The American Print, Technique Examined, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 2, 2001.
Atelier 17: Modern Printmaking in the Americas (Atelier 17: Gravura moderna nas Américas, Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP) and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizer). Venue: Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), March 23–June 2, 2019. [exh. cat.]
Beall, Karen F. American Prints in the Library of Congress: A Catalog of the Collection. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins Press for the Library of Congress, 1970. No. 4, p. 150.
Prasse, Leona E. Lyonel Feininger: A Definitive Catalogue of His Graphic Work: Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art; Berlin, Germany: Gebr. Mann, 1972. No. W 228 ii/ii, p. 218.
Jacobowitz, Ellen S. and George H. Marcus. American Graphics, 1860–1940: Selected from the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982. No. 60, p. 63.
Master Prints of Five Centuries: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection. (exh. cat., The Detroit Institute of Arts). Detroit, Michigan: Founders Society, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1990. No. 30, p. 60 [shows variant: Gelmeroda VII).
Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. American Moderns, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 23, 60 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 23 (black and white). [specific to Terra print]
Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 23, 60 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 23 (black and white). [specific to Terra print]
Nordland, Gerald. Gelmeroda, Lyonel Feininger. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 2000. Ill. (black & white). [specific to Terra print]
Prasse, Leona E. Lyonel Feininger: A Definitive Catalogue of His Graphic Work: Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art; Berlin, Germany: Gebr. Mann, 1972. No. W 228 ii/ii, p. 218.
Jacobowitz, Ellen S. and George H. Marcus. American Graphics, 1860–1940: Selected from the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982. No. 60, p. 63.
Master Prints of Five Centuries: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection. (exh. cat., The Detroit Institute of Arts). Detroit, Michigan: Founders Society, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1990. No. 30, p. 60 [shows variant: Gelmeroda VII).
Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. American Moderns, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 23, 60 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 23 (black and white). [specific to Terra print]
Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 23, 60 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 23 (black and white). [specific to Terra print]
Nordland, Gerald. Gelmeroda, Lyonel Feininger. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 2000. Ill. (black & white). [specific to Terra print]
