T. Lux Feininger
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Theodore Lukas (alias T. Lux) Feininger (June 11, 1910
Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...
– July 7, 2011
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
) was a German-American painter, avant-garde photographer, author, and art teacher who was born in Berlin to , née Lilienfeld, and
Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Charles Adrian Feininger (; July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City. In 1887 h ...
, an American living in Germany from the age of sixteen. His father was appointed as the Master of the Printing Workingshop at the newly formed
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
art school in
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
by
Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...
in 1919. He had two older full brothers, namely Andreas Feininger, and , as well as two half sisters, even older, including , by Clara Fürst and his father (from his first marriage).


Early career begins with photography

At sixteen, Lux Feininger became a student at the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
at Dessau, where he studied painting with
Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...
,
Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
, and
Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( â€“ 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...
, played in the ''Bauhauskapelle'', the Bauhaus jazz band, and participated in experimental theater. It was here that he began taking photographs and assumed the role of an artistic
photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
chronicling the daily life at Bauhaus. Although no photographic studio was part of the Bauhaus until 1929, his photography was influenced by the aesthetic of
László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by Constructivism (art), con ...
, who lived adjacent to the Feininger family. Soon Feininger was selling his photographs to periodicals and newspapers through an agency. By 1929 his work was featured in ''Film und Foto'', a survey of modern photography. A retrospective of his early photography was held in 1962 at the
Busch-Reisinger Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
and in 2001, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, in Manhattan, showed his works at an exhibit entitled, ''Dancing on the Roof: Photography and the Bauhaus (1923-1929)''.


Painting career begins in 1929

In 1929 he also began to exhibit his paintings under a
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
, ''Theodore Lux'', by which his stated intention was to avoid preferential treatment arising from the fame of his father. These are his first and second given names without his family name, he had never used his first name prior to this time. His initial paintings included maritime subjects, frequently of old sailing ships. From 1930 to 1935 he spent time in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. In 1936 Feininger left Germany and settled in the United States. His family had been targeted by the Nazis as undesirable foreigners participating in "decadent" cultural activities and they, along with many Bauhaus artists and designers, emigrated. The majority of the negatives for his collection of photographs had been left behind during his departure from Germany and none of these have been recovered. In 1937 he had his first solo show of paintings in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. Transportation subjects such as train locomotives, as well as, toys were featured in his paintings along with what the New York Times described as, striking self-portraits. After the United States entered World War II, Feininger served in its army intelligence. In 1947 he ceased using the pseudonym to sign his paintings and began using his family name in his
signature A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, Handwriting, handwritt ...
. During the 1940s he continued his photography as a personal activity only, focusing upon transportation subjects that included ferries, ships, trains, and trucks as well as street scenes in Manhattan. He never exhibited this later photography, however, and completely abandoned the art in 1950s. During the 1950s Feininger painted a
mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...
in the home of John M. van Beuren that was being built near
Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
by architect,
Bertrand Goldberg Bertrand Goldberg (July 17, 1913 – October 8, 1997) was an American architect and industrial designer, best known for the Marina City complex in Chicago, Illinois, the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of complet ...
. A personal friend of Feininger, van Beuren was the brother of Michael van Beuren, a Bauhaus furniture designer who hosted Gropius and other Bauhaus staff and faculty members fleeing the Nazis, at a van Beuren family residence in México while they relocated and selected destinations in the Americas for refuge. The mural was not able to be relocated when van Beuren commissioned
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...
for the next home built for van Beuren nearby on the family estate, but it was documented by other members of the Bauhaus community. By the 1960s Feininger had adopted the semi-abstract prismatic painting style of his father and Kandinsky. He continued to paint for the remainder of his life. A joint exhibition of Feininger's paintings was held in 2010 at the Berlin and the Manhattan galleries of Moeller Fine Art. In 2011 the Kunsthalle in Kiel, Germany presented a traveling exhibition, ''World Sailor: T. Lux Feininger on His 100th Birthday'', that also was exhibited at the Lyonel Feininger Gallery in Quedlinburg, Germany, a town now on the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
world heritage list World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
.


Writing and teaching

Writing was another professional activity by Feininger and he wrote several books. He was considered an accomplished writer with a distinctive style. In 1965 he authored a book, entitled ''Lyonel Feininger: City at the Edge of the World,'' about his father and his wooden sculptures of toy ships, trains, and fantasy cities, for which his brother, the photographer Andreas Feininger, provided the photographs. In 2001 Hatje Cantz Verlag in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
published his, ''Feininger, A family of artists'', which was edited by . In 2006 the German publishing house Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale), published his, ''Two Worlds: My life as an artist between Bauhaus and America''. Feininger taught at
Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...
, Harvard's Fogg Museum, and the
School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a dedicated art school within Tufts University, a private research university in Mass ...
before his retirement in 1975.


Personal information

Feininger's first wife, Jeanne, died within a few years of their marriage. In 1954 he married Patricia Randall and they had three sons, Charles, Conrad, and Lucas. Lux Feininger lived to be 101 years old, dying on July 7, 2011, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Marquard, Bryan
''T. Lux Feininger, 101; and artist whose career spanned oceans and media''
The Boston Globe, July 18, 2011


References and sources


Further reading

* Obituary â€
''Theodore Lux Feininger''
Brown and Hicky Funeral Home, July 2011 * Biography â€
''T. Lux Feininger''
collections, The J. Paul Getty Museum, * Oral history â€
''Oral history interview with T. Lux Feininger''
conducted by Robert F. Brown 1987 May 19-1988 March 17, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Feininger, T. Lux 1910 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American people of German-Jewish descent American men centenarians American male painters American male writers American photographers Artists from Cambridge, Massachusetts Bauhaus alumni Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Harvard University faculty Painters from Berlin Sarah Lawrence College faculty