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A stylized geometric painting of figures on a beach.

The painting is divided horizontally into three planes. From the top bands of blue, and shades of dark to light green border a band of black diagonal rectangles, that is bordered by a band of brown triangles set at various angles. In the foreground, a figure in black and yellow stripes faces back. A figure in red to the left, other figures in yellow, red or black are spaced along the black plane. Three tall figures in long white garments are grouped to left. Six brown pyramidal shapes with black bases are spaced along the top of the black plane.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR54.7
People
Lyonel Feininger, American (New York, NY 1871 - 1956 New York, NY)
Title
Bathers on the Beach I
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Bathers
Original Language Title: Badende am Strand I
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1912
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/223732

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
50.5 x 65.7 cm (19 7/8 x 25 7/8 in.)
frame: 62 x 77 cm (24 7/16 x 30 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: at l.l.: Feininger 1912
  • inscription: on back of stretcher: April 1912 Bathers
  • label: backing board u.l.: Busch-Reisinger Museum label with caption information
  • label: backing board u.l.: Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg label for the exhibition "The Seashore in Paitings of the 19th and 20th Centuries" (October 22 - December 3, 1965).
  • label: backing board u.l.: Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art label for the "Lyonel Feininger Retrospective" (April 10 - May 5, 1963).
  • label: backing board u.r.: Haus der Kunst, Munich label for the exhibition "Lyonel Feininger" (November 1, 1998 - January 24, 1999).
  • label: backing board c.: Busch-Reisinger Museum label for the exhibition "Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University" (Städl, Frankfurt: October 21, 1982 -January 19, 1983; Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin: February 10, 1983 - April 1983; Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf: May 8 - June 26, 1983).

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Fritz Schön, Berlin and Ascona, Switzerland, and later as F. R. Schon, Toronto. [Herbert Tannenbaum Galleries, New York], sold; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1954.

NOTE: A label for the 1938 New Burlington Galleries exhibition identifies the owner as "private swiss." This may be Fritz Schön.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Hess, 71

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Accession Year
1954
Object Number
BR54.7
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1961), cat. no. 71
  • Dr. Ulrich Luckhardt, ed., Lyonel Feininger. Menschenbilder. Eine unbekannte Welt, exh. cat., Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, 2003), p. 92/ cat. 87
  • Barbara Haskell, John Carlin, and Bryan Gilliam, Lyonel Feininger, exh. cat., Somogy Éditions d'Art (Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2011), fig. 59, p. 55, ill.
  • Peter Nisbet, Lyonel Feininger Drawings and Watercolors, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums and Hatje Cantz (Cambridge, MA and Ostfildern, Germany, 2011), p. 15, fig. 3
  • Martin Faass, Max Liebermann am Meer, exh. cat., Hirmer (Munich, Germany, 2011), p. 112, fig. 46, ill. (color)
  • Ingrid Pfeiffer, ed., Lyonel Feininger: Retrospective, exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Hirmer Verlag (Frankfurt and Munich, 2023), pp. 56-57, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • Artists of the Blaue Reiter: Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Works, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 01/21/1955 - 02/24/1955
  • From Werkbund to Bauhaus: Art and Design in Germany 1900-1934, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 05/12/1980 - 04/26/1980
  • Works from the 20th Century Collection of the Busch-Reisinger, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/15/1980 - 09/01/1980; Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York, 09/23/1980 - 10/24/1980
  • 20th-Century Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/07/1981 - 11/11/1981
  • 19th- and 20th-Century Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 02/08/1982
  • Art of the Weimar Era, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 04/05/1982 - 05/22/1982
  • Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Stadtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 10/23/1982 - 01/16/1983; Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin 30, 02/10/1983 - 04/17/1983; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 05/08/1983 - 06/26/1983
  • German Painting 1760-1960: A New Installation, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 12/20/1983 - 02/19/1984
  • Lyonel Feininger in Germany: 1887-1937, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 02/10/1996 - 05/12/1996
  • Lyonel Feininger: From Gelmeroda to Manhattan, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 07/03/1998 - 10/11/1998; Haus der Kunst München, Munich, 10/29/1998 - 01/17/1999
  • Lyonel Feininger. Menschenbilder. Eine unbekannte Welt, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 10/24/2003 - 02/01/2004
  • Lyonel Feininger: Drawings and Watercolors from the William S. Lieberman Bequest to the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 02/26/2011 - 05/15/2011; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munchen, 06/02/2011 - 07/17/2011
  • Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 01/16/2012 - 05/13/2012
  • 32Q: 1300 Early Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/02/2023
  • Lyonel Feininger Retrospective, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 10/26/2023 - 02/18/2024

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu