Carnival in Arcueil
Lyonel Feininger
LYONEL FEININGER, 1911. OIL ON CANVAS.
At the age of thirty six, already well into a successful career as a cartoonist, Lyonel Feininger began to pursue a full time career as a fine artist. It did not take long for this career change to prove fruitful, his already well-learnt hand adapted well from ink to oil and even his early paintings, such as this, show a seemly effortless mastery of form, color and composition. In this circus scene located in the town of Arcueil, just south of Paris, the dual mediums are clear, painter and cartoonist work together in a dizzy blend that entices and disturbs. The background and the setting are painterly, drawing form the Seccessionists in its yellow hues and elegant architectural renderings as much as it shows a clear influence of Van Gogh in the swelling roofs of the house blocks and the swirling sky above. The figures however, grotesque and exaggerated as they march through the town, point to his past as a cartoonist. They are vaguely sinister, and their faces are rendered in minimal details, expressionists brought out by simple lines from years of training with ink drawings. Set against the more delicate, painterly background, there is a strange duality to the work that creates a subconscious discomfort that lends itself perfectly to the subject matter Feininger depicts.