Feininger, Lyonel (Charles Adrian)

(born July 17, 1871, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 13, 1956, New York City) U.S.-born German painter. He went to Germany in 1887 to study music but ended up studying painting instead. Around 1910, under the influence of Cubism, he developed a unique style, using prismatic interpenetrating planes of colour to depict architectural and marine subjects. He exhibited with Der Blaue Reiter in Berlin in 1913 and was later an influential teacher at the Bauhaus (1919–33). His work was a synthesis of art, science, and technology; he is noted for introducing compositional discipline and lyrical colour to German Expressionism. After the Nazis came to power, he returned to the U.S. He was the father of photographer Andreas Feininger.

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