New York

Lyonel Feininger & Mark Tobey

Years of Friendship 1944 - 1956

October 11 – November 23, 2004

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)
Freighters, 1943
watercolor, pen, and black ink on paper
12 ½ x 18 7/8 in. (31.8 x 48 cm)
signed lower left: Feininger
dated lower right: 29.iii.43
Mark Tobey (1890-1976)
Sumi (Abstract), 1957
ink on Japan paper
23 ½ x 17 ¾ in. (59.7 x 45 cm)
signed and dated lower right: Tobey '57

Mark Tobey (1890-1976)
Untitled, 1958
tempera on paper
8 ½ x 10 7/8 in. (21,59 x 27,62 cm)
signed and dated lower right: Tobey 58

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)
Untitled (Ghosties), 1953
watercolor and ink on paper
5 ¾ x 9 in. (14.6 x 25.3 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: Feininger 14.II.53

Achim Moeller Fine Art is pleased to announce the exhibition "Lyonel Feininger | Mark Tobey: Years of Friendship, 1944-1956." The exhibition celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the New York gallery and the fortieth anniversary of Achim Moeller's years in the art world. It also represents Achim Moeller's long involvement with the work of these two artists.


Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) and Mark Tobey (1890-1976) met in 1944 at the Willard Gallery in New York City. Their meeting marked the beginning of an extraordinary friendship, one that lasted until 1956, the year of Feininger's death. The artists spent time together only three times during these years, but their profound mutual admiration and their appreciation for each other's work is recorded in the extensive series of letters that they exchanged. The complete correspondence is expected to be published by Achim Moeller as a new book in the spring of 2005.


Achim Moeller's interest in Lyonel Feininger dates back to 1968, when, at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in New York, he was asked to represent the estate of the artist and the following year curated the first of many Feininger exhibitions. The catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Lyonel Feininger, volume I (1907-1918) is forthcoming. Moeller's personal involvement with the work of Mark Tobey was ignited through his friendship with the art historian Paul Cummings, who compiled the Mark Tobey archive over a period of twenty years. This archive is now housed at Achim Moeller Fine Art. A Tobey committee to provide authentication of the work of the artist is currently in the process of being organized.

Back To Top