Andreas Feininger's New York Opens At Saint Louis Art Museum

Feininger was one of the leading staff photographers of LIFE magazine from 1943 to 1962 when photojournalism was at its creative peak. Feininger's vision of New York-full of space, light and energy-captured the prosperity and sense of optimism that characterized the postwar period.

Many of the photographs in the exhibition focus on the iconic features of the city including the Brooklyn Bridge, the ultra-modern Rockefeller Center and the bustle of Fifth Avenue. Feininger often used a telephoto lens to compress buildings, automobiles and people into dense, vibrant images.

Andreas Feininger (American, born France, 1906-1999) was the son of the distinguished painter Lyonel Feininger. In the mid-1920s, he studied at the Bauhaus, the progressive German art school where his father taught. After graduating, he used a 35mm Leica camera to record his observations and responses to the European cities of Paris, Hamburg and Stockholm. Turmoil in Europe spurred him to move to the United States in 1937, when he began his association with Life and his fascination with New York City.

The exhibition showcases recent gifts from the artist and his family. These generous gifts have made works by Feininger one of the largest collections by a single photographer in the Museum's holdings.

Curated by Eric Lutz, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, Andreas Feininger's New York will be on view in Gallery 321 through August 19, 2007. -- www.stlouis.art.museum