36th Feininger Children's and Youth Plein Air Mellingen

Lyonel Feininger — the American Bauhaus Master in Thuringia

Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), son of German-American musicians and one of the most influential artists of the early 20th century, taught at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1919 to 1925. During this time, he spent many summers in the small village of Mellingen, about 10 kilometers southeast of Weimar in the Weimarer Land district. The slender Gothic church of Mellingen became one of his favorite subjects — he painted it in countless watercolors, drawings, and finally in the famous woodcut "Gelmeroda" (actually Mellingen; Feininger himself often confused the place names).

An Art Competition for Children

For 36 years, the Feininger Children's and Youth Plein Air has honored this art-historical connection. The Art Association Apolda Avantgarde e.V. organizes it together with the Weimarer Land district and the municipality of Mellingen. School classes from primary and secondary schools in Weimarer Land come to Mellingen for a day, painting outdoors — on the village green, by the church, in the village alley — experimenting with watercolor, ink, and linocut in the style of Feininger.

The Evening Presentation

In the evening, the created works are presented on the village green in Mellingen (in case of bad weather, in St. Georg Church). A jury selects the most beautiful works. Musical accompaniment and a small theater performance by the theater group of the Lyonel Feininger Gymnasium Mellingen frame the opening. It is a cross-generational family festival that combines art, music, and theater.

Gelmeroda and the Feininger Legacy

The church of Gelmeroda — a neighboring village to Mellingen, also painted by Feininger — now houses a permanent exhibition on Feininger and is a stop on the Feininger Cycle Route. Visitors to the Plein Air can combine their visit with a bike tour to other Feininger locations: Gelmeroda, Vollersroda, farm buildings in Niedergrunstedt — all places in rural Thuringia that the painter repeatedly made his subject.