Lot 166 D

“I live on memory and yearning - they surely form the driving force behind all deep works of art; however, the intoxicating experience of the new and congenial provides the soil for a great renewal and vision,” wrote Lyonel Feininger to his wife Julia in 1930 (Letter of 9 August 1930, cited in exhib. cat. Feininger. Frühe Werke und Freunde, Wuppertal 2006, p. 67).
Throughout his life, maritime subjects captivated Feininger as an artist, and so it is no surprise that, in 1950, he enthusiastically devoted his attention to a commission to create a large-format wall painting for the SS Constitution, which was being built at that time. Conceived as a classic ocean liner, the steamer was to be launched later that year in Massachusetts. From 1951 the Constitution served the line New York-Genoa-Naples-Gibraltar for the company American Export Lines and later also served as a cruise liner.
A number of Feininger's design sketches for this project are preserved, although they were never carried out on-board. The artist's panorama-like watercolours thus seem all the more important today: in them, Feininger once again introduces his atmospheric maritime scenes into a very distinctive format. In our designs, Feininger makes use not of steamers like the Constitution but spectral tall ships. Like emissaries from a bygone era they emerge out of the fog, splendidly adorned with fantastic flags, to present themselves to their viewers.