Lyonel Feininger in Germany, 25 years later

From October 27, 2023 to February 18, 2024, the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt presents the first major retrospective in Germany in over twenty-five years of Lyonel Feininger, one of the key figures of German Expressionism.

Source: Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt · Image: Lyonel Feininger, “Self Portrait”, 1915, Oil on linen, 100.3 x 80 cm, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, 2014.756, Photo © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Work of Art © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Curated by Dr. Ingrid Pfeiffer, the exhibition includes a compre­hen­sive and surprising overview of the artist’s creative work. Feininger is famous for his paint­ings of build­ings, crys­talline archi­tec­tures in unmis­tak­able monu­men­tality, and harmo­nious colors. The exhi­bi­tion presents main works which are seldom on view and also little-known series like the artist’s recently rediscovered photographs. 

Although the Schirn retrospective is the artist’s first in Germany in a quarter of a century, the artist has been the subject of several major exhibitions in the United States in relatively recent times, including the Whitney Museum’s major retrospective (30 June – 16 October 2011), and an exhibition of his photographs at the Getty Museum (25 October 2011 – 11 March 2012).

In addition, next November 9, 2023, the Schirn Kunsthalle will present the first compre­hen­sive overview of the work of John Akom­frah (b. 1957), which to date is still rela­tively unknown in Germany. His oeuvre crit­i­cally exam­ines colo­nial pasts, global migra­tion, and the climate crisis. The starting point of the Schirn’s exten­sive presen­ta­tion is a new immer­sive multi­screen instal­la­tion.