The Green Bridge II

Artist Lyonel Feininger American, 1871–1956, active in Germany 1887–1937

Date1916

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions49 3/8 x 39 1/2 in. (125.4 x 100.3 cm)
Frame: 53 x 43 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (134.6 x 110.5 x 5.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Ferdinand Möller

Object numberG.57.38.1

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceCreated Berlin, 1916; collection of the artist; Maj. Hülsmann, Berlin, after November 27, 1930 [1]; Ferdinand Möller, Berlin, by 1938 [2]; [on extended loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, 1938–1957]; seized by the Office of Alien Property, U.S. Dept. of Justice, in Detroit, 1950 [3]; acquired by Maria Möller-Garny, Cologne, 1956 [4]; given to NCMA, 1957.

[1] Julia Feininger (the artist’s wife) loaned the painting to the exhibitions in Dresden, 1929, and Weimar, July 1929–November 1930. She asked that the loans be returned to her after reading that the Weimar museum had been forced to remove modern paintings by order of the (National Socialist) government. See letter from Julia Feininger to Wilhelm Kohler, November 27, 1930, and letter from Sabine Walter, August 7, 1997.
[2] Möller lent the painting to DIA in 1938.
[3] See letter from Eleanor Perry, Detroit Institute of Arts to Office of Alien Property, U.S. Dept. of Justice, July 13, 1955. See also Peter Nisbet essay, NCMA Bulletin, 1997, p. 68.
[4] After F. Möller’s death, his wife came to an agreement with the U.S. Government, that she would donate two paintings (including this one) to U.S. museums and buy back the rest. See Nisbet, 1997

Published ReferencesJames B. Byrnes, "Some Recent Accessions of Twentieth Century Painting," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (Winter 1957/Spring 1958). 41-50, discussed 41, illus. (b-w) fig. 1 "Recent Accessions," North Carolina Museum of Art Calendar of Art Events 1, no. 6 (March 1958), briefly discussed and illus. (b-w) unnumbered page. Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, [1959]), discussed 76, listed cat. no. 163, illus. (b-w). Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger (New York: Abrams, 1961), discussed 74, listed cat. no. 163, illus. (b-w) (English version of above) Lyonel Feininger: The Formative Years (exhibition catalogue) (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Art, 1964), cat. no. 138. Charles W. Stanford, Jr., Selections from British and American Painting and Sculpture (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), no. 36, illus. (b-w). American Paintings since 1900 from the Permanent Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), cat. no. 18, illus. (b-w). Exhibition Number One from the Permanent Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1970), 124, illus. (b-w) 125. Leona E. Prasse, Lyonel Feininger: A Definitive Catalogue of his Graphic Work: Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1972), noted 62. Lyonel Feininger (exhibition catalogue) (Munich: Haus der Kunst, 1973), cat. no. 90, illus. (b-w). June L. Ness, ed., Lyonel Feininger (New York: Praeger, 1974), possibly noted 102, illus. (b-w) fig. 26. Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: Published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 261. Eberhard Roters, Galerie Ferdinand Möller: Die Geschichte einer Galerie für Moderne Kunst in Deutschland, 1917-1956 (Berlin: Gebrüder Mann Verlag, 1984), 155f., 226. Felicitas Tobien, Lyonel Feininger (Kirchdorf/Inn: Berghaus, 1988), 45, illus. (color) 45. Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 258. Peter Nisbet, "Lyonel Feininger's The Green Bridge II: Notes on War and Memory," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 17 (1997), 56-69, illus. (color) 56, detail (color) 69. Lyonel Feininger: von Gelmeroda nach Manhattan: Retrospektive der Gemälde (exhibition catalogue) (Berlin : Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitz : G + H Verlag, 1998), cat. no. 34, illus. (color) 91; installation shot 334. Huston Paschal, entry for The Green Bridge II, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 216-17, illus. (color) 216. "Deaccessions and Loans," North Carolina Museum of Art Annual Report (1998-99), illus. (b-w) 16. Aufstieg and Fall der Moderne (exhibition catalogue) (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz for Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, 1999), cat. no. 195, illus. (color) 303). Stuart Levin, "As I See It," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (Mar/Apr 2001), 29, illus. (b-w). Blue Greenberg, "N.C. Museum of Art cherishes its 'Green Bridge.'" Durham: Durham Herald-Sun (July 20, 2001), discussed D4, illus. M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 288, no. 3 (July 17, 2002), discussed 282, illus. (color) 282, and cover. Huston Paschal, entry for The Green Bridge II, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 452, illus. (color) 17, 453. Barbara Haskell, et al, Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2011), illus. (color) 83, fig. 90, and large detail (color) front cover. Judith H. Dobrzynski, "A Divided Artist Comes Home," Wall Street Journal (July 7, 2011), briefly discussed [page unknown]; online at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576429793649661476.html Cynthia Nadelman, "Lyonel Feininger" (exhibition review) in ARTnews 110 (October 2011), illus. (color) 101. Martha Oaks, "Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World" (exhibition review), in American Art Review 23, no. 5 (September/October 2011), illus. (color) 111. Manuel Fontán del Junco and Aida Capa, eds. Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) (exhibition catalogue) (Madrid: Fundación Juan March, 2017), 61, illus. (color) 61, fig. 6. (catalogue only, not in exhibition). Traumstadt: Lyonel Feininger und seine Dörfer (exhibition catalogue) (Apolda, Germany: Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, 2019), cat. no. 56, illus. (color) frontispiece and 103. Andreas Platthaus, Lyonel Feininger: Porträt Eines Lebens (Berlin: Rowohlt, 2021), illus. (color) facing 129. Adam O'Fallon Price, "The Green Bridge II" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 174. Herbert R. Hartel and Oliver A.I. Botar, "Expressionism in Canada and the United States" in The Routledge Companion to Expressionism in a Transnational Context (Milton Park, UK: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2019), illus. (color)

Exhibition History[Possibly Berlin, Neue Sezession, "Summer Exhibition," 1919.] Erfurt, [Angermuseum?, title? , late 1921] Weimar, Schloßmuseum, July 1929-November 1930. [Possibly Berlin, Galerie Ferdinand Möller, "30 Deutsche Künstler," July-August 1936.] [Possibly Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Art Gallery, "Lyonel Feininger: A Retrospective Exhibition," April 1-30, 1938, cat. no. 27 (as Green Bridge).] Columbus, OH, Gallery of Fine Arts, "German Expressionism," February 10-March 9, 1961. Detroit, MI, Detroit Institute of Arts, "Lyonel Feininger: The Formative Years," September 8-27, 1964, cat. no. 138. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "American Paintings since 1900 from the Permanent Collection," April 1-23, 1967, cat. no. 18, illus. (b-w). Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Exhibition Number One from the Permanent Collection," October 1970, 124, illus. (b-w) 125. Munich, Haus der Kunst, "Lyonel Feininger," March 24-May 13, 1973; Zürich, Kunsthaus Zürich, May 25-July 22, 1973, cat. no. 90, illus. (b-w). Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, "Masterpieces from the North Carolina Museum of Art," March 11-April 13, 1975. Winston-Salem, NC, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, "Opening Exhibition," February 2-March 2, 1977. Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, "Lyonel Feininger - Von Gelmeroda nach Manhattan," July 3-October, 1998; Munich, Haus der Kunst, November 1, 1998-January 1999, cat. no. 34, illus. (color) 91; installation shot 334. Weimar, Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, "Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne," May 9-August 1, 1999, cat. no. 195, illus. (color) 303. New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, "Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World," June 30-October 16, 2011; Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, "Lyonel Feininger: From Manhattan to the Bauhaus," January 20-May 13, 2012, illus. (color) 83, fig. 90, and large detail (color) front cover. Apolda, Germany, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, “Traumstadt: Lyonel Feininger und seine Dörfer,” September 15–December 15, 2019, cat. no. 56, illus. (color) frontispiece and 103. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–November 25, 2024.

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