The experiences of European and North American modernity converge in the figure of Lyonel Feininger (New York, 1871 – 1956). He initially trained as a musician in his hometown and at the age of 16 he traveled to Germany to complete his violin studies. He began to publish drawings in magazines and in 1906 the Chicago Sunday Tribune hired him as a cartoonist. In Paris he came into contact with Cubism, and in Berlin, with Expressionism. In 1913 he exhibited his work with the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group. In 1918 he met Walter Gropius and became Professor of Etching at the Bauhaus.

In 1924, along with Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Alexéi von Jawlensky, he founded the Die Blaue Vier (The Blue Four) group. In 1929 Feininger presented his works at the exhibition Paintings by 19 Living Americans at MoMA in New York, and in 1931 the Nationalgalerie in Berlin hosted a retrospective dedicated to the artist. His career was truncated in 1935 when his work was removed from German museums and was included in the infamous exhibition Degenerate Art organized by the Nazis in Munich. He returned to the United States where he had trouble adapting to American iconography and sensibilities.