Lyonel Feininger
Tjalks auf der Ostsee
1931
Pen and ink and watercolour on ribbed laid paper 23 x 29.5 cm Framed under glass. Signed 'Feininger' in India ink lower left, dated 'i93i' [sic] and centrally titled '"Tjalks"/auf der Ostsee' and dedicated 'meinem lieben Kasio!' lower left margin. - Along the edges with irregular, browned light-stains; isolated minor marginal tears professionally restored.
The beautiful hues of this watercolour capture the motif freely and atmospherically in the casual and fine drawing on the paper ground - centred and parallel to the picture plane. It shines with a summery brightness in yellow, orange and blue. Feininger dedicated this sheet to his little nephew Kasio, the son of his sister Helene. The annotation places the boats on the Baltic Sea and “Tjalks” has also been added in quotation marks: these are actually a flat-bottomed, Dutch type of sailing boat used for transporting freight and more likely to be found in Friesland. Accordingly, the artist has supplemented the image with this informative description for his nephew …
Certificate
Achim Moeller, director of the Lyonel Feininger Project LLC, New York, has confirmed the authenticity of this work with a photo-certificate dated 23 January 2019. It is registered in the archive of the Lyonel Feininger Project under the number 1576-01-23-19 and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of drawings and watercolours compiled by Achim Moeller and Sebastian Ehlert.
Provenance
Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer Munich, Modern Art auction, 20 May 1969, lot 373: Galerie Rosenbach, Hanover (1978); formerly private collection, Hesse, in family possession since