Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Feininger
1871 - 1956
Alte Amerikanische Lokomotive. 1910.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper right. Inscribed “Sunday, July 3, 1910” on the reverse of the stretcher. 50 x 100 cm (19.6 x 39.3 in).
With labels of "Serge Sabarsky Gallery", New York, and of "Eugene Victor Thaw", New York,on the reverse. [AR].
• MUSEUM QUALITY Early, large-scale work in vibrant colors, marking Feininger's transition to modernism.
• NEW IMPULSES Locomotives, figures, and movement become sources of inspiration that informed his distinctive aesthetic.
• EXHIBITION In 1911 at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris; in 1966 in one of the first posthumous retrospectives, held in Pasadena, Milwaukee, and Baltimore; and in 1968–69 in a major group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• COLLECTION Another painting with a locomotive motif from 1910 is in the collection of the Albertina, Vienna.
• WANTED Feininger's figurative works from the 1910s are among the artist's most sought-after pieces on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
Achim Moeller, Director of the Lyonel Feininger Project, New York–Berlin, has confirmed the authenticity of this work, which is registered in the Lyonel Feininger Project archive under number 2101-09-29-26. The work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. The painting is listed in Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Achim Moeller under number 062.
Additional information was provided by Achim Moeller, The Lyonel Feininger Project, New York–Berlin.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate.
Julia Feininger, New York.
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Private collection, Northern Germany (inherited from the above).
EXHIBITION: 27éme Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, Salon des Indépendants, Paris, April 21–June 13, 1911, no. 2181 (“La locomotive ancienne”), p. 154.
The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art 1910–1920: Sixth Loan Exhibition of the Friends of the Whitney Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Feb. 27–Apr. 14, 1963, cat. no. 37 (Old American Locomotive; Collection of Mrs. Lyonel Feininger, with b/w illustration on p. 6), with stops at: City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, April 1–July 14, 1963; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, August 6–September 15, 1963; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Sept. 30–Oct. 30, 1963; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Nov. 15–Dec. 29, 1963; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Jan. 20–Feb. 23, 1964.
Lyonel Feininger 1871–1956: A Memorial Exhibition, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, April 26–May 29, 1966, cat. no. 6 (Old American Locomotive, Mrs. Julia Feininger, with color illustration, no page number, exhibition label on the reverse), with stops at: Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, July 10–August 11, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, September 7–October 23, 1966.
The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 27, 1968–February 9, 1969, p. 46 (Old American Locomotive, Mrs. Julia Feininger, with b/w illustration, on the reverse with a label reading “Museum of Modern Art – LOAN”), with stops at: University of St. Thomas, Houston, March 25–May 18, 1969; San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, June 27–August 24, 1969.
LITERATURE: Achim Moeller, (Alte amerikanische Lokomtive I) / (Old American Locomotive I), 1910 (Moeller 062), in: Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, https://www.feiningerproject.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=63 (accessed September 16, 2026).
Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Oeuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, Stuttgart 1959, CR no. 53 (illustrated in black and white on p. 253)
- -
Lloyd Goodrich, [Introduction], in: The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art 1910–1920, exhibition catalog, New York 1963, pp. 5–89, here p. 5.
Leona E. Prasse, Lyonel Feininger. Das graphische Werk. Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts, Berlin/Cleveland 1972, p. 58 (Old American Locomotive).
Donald E. Gordon, Modern Art Exhibitions: 1900–1916. Selected Catalogue Documentation, II, Munich 1974, p. 479 (“La locomotive ancienne”).
Ulrich Luckhardt, Der frühe Feininger und Robert Delaunay, in: Peter-Klaus Schuster (ed.), Delaunay und Deutschland, Cologne 1985, pp. 285–291, here p. 285.
Ulrich Luckhardt, Lyonel Feininger: Die Karikaturen und das zeichnerische Frühwerk. Der Weg zur Selbstfindung zum unabhängigen Künstler, mit einem Exkurs zu den Karikaturen von Emil Nolde und George Grosz, Munich 1987, p. 143.
Galerie Gmurzynska (ed.), Lyonel Feininger, Cologne 1997, p. 40.
Ulrich Luckhardt, Martin Faas (eds.), Lyonel Feininger: The Drawings and Watercolors, Cologne 1998, p. 206.
Martin Faas, Lyonel Feininger und der Kubismus, Europäische Hochschulschriften, series XXVIII, vol. 33, Frankfurt am Main 1999, p. 36 (La locomotive ancienne [Old American Locomotive]).
Anja Breloh, Das verheissungsvollste Geschenk, in: Gerhard Finckh (ed.), Feininger: Frühe Werke und Freunde, Bönen 2006, pp. 112–119, here p. 116.
Björn Egging, Manuela Winter (eds.), Lyonel Feininger: Radierungen und Lithografien, Quedlinburg 2012, p. 108.
Lyonel Feininger
1871 - 1956
Alte Amerikanische Lokomotive. 1910.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper right. Inscribed “Sunday, July 3, 1910” on the reverse of the stretcher. 50 x 100 cm (19.6 x 39.3 in).
With labels of "Serge Sabarsky Gallery", New York, and of "Eugene Victor Thaw", New York,on the reverse. [AR].
• MUSEUM QUALITY Early, large-scale work in vibrant colors, marking Feininger's transition to modernism.
• NEW IMPULSES Locomotives, figures, and movement become sources of inspiration that informed his distinctive aesthetic.
• EXHIBITION In 1911 at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris; in 1966 in one of the first posthumous retrospectives, held in Pasadena, Milwaukee, and Baltimore; and in 1968–69 in a major group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• COLLECTION Another painting with a locomotive motif from 1910 is in the collection of the Albertina, Vienna.
• WANTED Feininger's figurative works from the 1910s are among the artist's most sought-after pieces on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
Achim Moeller, Director of the Lyonel Feininger Project, New York–Berlin, has confirmed the authenticity of this work, which is registered in the Lyonel Feininger Project archive under number 2101-09-29-26. The work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. The painting is listed in Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Achim Moeller under number 062.
Additional information was provided by Achim Moeller, The Lyonel Feininger Project, New York–Berlin.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate.
Julia Feininger, New York.
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Private collection, Northern Germany (inherited from the above).
EXHIBITION: 27éme Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, Salon des Indépendants, Paris, April 21–June 13, 1911, no. 2181 (“La locomotive ancienne”), p. 154.
The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art 1910–1920: Sixth Loan Exhibition of the Friends of the Whitney Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Feb. 27–Apr. 14, 1963, cat. no. 37 (Old American Locomotive; Collection of Mrs. Lyonel Feininger, with b/w illustration on p. 6), with stops at: City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, April 1–July 14, 1963; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, August 6–September 15, 1963; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Sept. 30–Oct. 30, 1963; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Nov. 15–Dec. 29, 1963; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Jan. 20–Feb. 23, 1964.
Lyonel Feininger 1871–1956: A Memorial Exhibition, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, April 26–May 29, 1966, cat. no. 6 (Old American Locomotive, Mrs. Julia Feininger, with color illustration, no page number, exhibition label on the reverse), with stops at: Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, July 10–August 11, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, September 7–October 23, 1966.
The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 27, 1968–February 9, 1969, p. 46 (Old American Locomotive, Mrs. Julia Feininger, with b/w illustration, on the reverse with a label reading “Museum of Modern Art – LOAN”), with stops at: University of St. Thomas, Houston, March 25–May 18, 1969; San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, June 27–August 24, 1969.
LITERATURE: Achim Moeller, (Alte amerikanische Lokomtive I) / (Old American Locomotive I), 1910 (Moeller 062), in: Lyonel Feininger: The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, https://www.feiningerproject.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=63 (accessed September 16, 2026).
Hans Hess, Lyonel Feininger. Mit einem Oeuvre-Katalog von Julia Feininger, Stuttgart 1959, CR no. 53 (illustrated in black and white on p. 253)
- -
Lloyd Goodrich, [Introduction], in: The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art 1910–1920, exhibition catalog, New York 1963, pp. 5–89, here p. 5.
Leona E. Prasse, Lyonel Feininger. Das graphische Werk. Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts, Berlin/Cleveland 1972, p. 58 (Old American Locomotive).
Donald E. Gordon, Modern Art Exhibitions: 1900–1916. Selected Catalogue Documentation, II, Munich 1974, p. 479 (“La locomotive ancienne”).
Ulrich Luckhardt, Der frühe Feininger und Robert Delaunay, in: Peter-Klaus Schuster (ed.), Delaunay und Deutschland, Cologne 1985, pp. 285–291, here p. 285.
Ulrich Luckhardt, Lyonel Feininger: Die Karikaturen und das zeichnerische Frühwerk. Der Weg zur Selbstfindung zum unabhängigen Künstler, mit einem Exkurs zu den Karikaturen von Emil Nolde und George Grosz, Munich 1987, p. 143.
Galerie Gmurzynska (ed.), Lyonel Feininger, Cologne 1997, p. 40.
Ulrich Luckhardt, Martin Faas (eds.), Lyonel Feininger: The Drawings and Watercolors, Cologne 1998, p. 206.
Martin Faas, Lyonel Feininger und der Kubismus, Europäische Hochschulschriften, series XXVIII, vol. 33, Frankfurt am Main 1999, p. 36 (La locomotive ancienne [Old American Locomotive]).
Anja Breloh, Das verheissungsvollste Geschenk, in: Gerhard Finckh (ed.), Feininger: Frühe Werke und Freunde, Bönen 2006, pp. 112–119, here p. 116.
Björn Egging, Manuela Winter (eds.), Lyonel Feininger: Radierungen und Lithografien, Quedlinburg 2012, p. 108.
