German painting of the 20th century - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2002 - 55 Euro Cent

Lyonel Feininger was born on July 17, 1871, the son of a German-born music couple in New York. In 1887 he moved to Germany and took drawing lessons at the Hamburg trade school. Further stages of his training were Berlin, Liège and Paris. In 1909 he joined the artist association »Berlin Secession«, which turned against the historicizing understanding of art Wilhelm II. The architecture of German small towns was an important theme of his paintings. In 1919, Walter Gropius became the first painter to call him to the Bauhaus in Weimar, where he directed the graphics workshop. From 1929 to 1931, a series of eleven pictures with city views of Halle was created. One of them shows the Marienkirche from the early 16th century and is the motif of the special stamp. The National Socialists defamed Feininger as a degenerate artist, so that finally moved to New York in 1937. Here he died on January 15, 1956.