HAMBURG.- An extraordinary archive of letters by German-American artist Lyonel Feininger, spanning the rise of the Bauhaus, the upheavals of Nazi Germany and the artist's later years in the United States, will lead Ketterer Kunst's Rare Books auction in Hamburg on November 23, 2026. Estimated at €150,000 to €250,000, the previously unpublished correspondence offers an unusually personal record of one of the most influential artists associated with twentieth-century modernism.

The archive is the centerpiece of an evening auction bringing together illuminated medieval manuscripts, landmark publications in photography, rare maps, early scientific books and important examples of modern printmaking. Among the other highlights is an extensive collection of Alfred Stieglitz's groundbreaking photographic journal Camera Work, estimated at €60,000.

Ketterer Kunst's 610th auction will take place at its Hamburg premises, with the afternoon session beginning at 1:30 p.m. and the evening sale at 5 p.m. Together, the two sessions offer collectors a wide-ranging view of the history of books and works on paper, from Renaissance craftsmanship to the artistic experiments of the twentieth century.

A remarkable record of Lyonel Feininger's artistic life

The leading lot, numbered 54, consists of correspondence between Feininger and his friend, art historian Alois J. Schardt (1889–1955), together with letters involving their families.

According to the printed catalogue, the archive contains 69 letters addressed to Schardt and 44 letters exchanged between the families, covering the years 1920 to 1955. More than 50 original woodcuts by Feininger are printed on the correspondence, while additional pen-and-ink drawings give the material a distinctly artistic character.

The letters span an extraordinary period in the artist's life. They begin during the pioneering years of the Bauhaus in Weimar, continue through the political and cultural disruptions that reshaped Germany in the 1930s, and extend into Feininger's final creative period in New York.

Born in New York in 1871 to German parents, Feininger spent much of his artistic career in Germany, where he developed his distinctive vocabulary of angular forms, architectural compositions and luminous color. He was appointed to the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius in 1919 and became closely associated with the school's early ambitions to unite artistic imagination and craftsmanship.

His friendship with Schardt, a scholar and museum professional, provides another perspective on those years. The archive brings together the observations of an artist engaged in the development of modern art and the exchanges that sustained his personal and intellectual relationships.

The inclusion of original woodcuts is particularly significant. Rather than functioning solely as written documents, many of the letters also carry examples of Feininger's graphic work, reflecting his habit of incorporating artistic expression into personal correspondence.

Ketterer Kunst describes the collection as an art-historical archive of museum-level importance. Its value lies not only in the individual letters and original prints, but also in the continuity of a relationship documented across more than three decades.

The correspondence could offer scholars valuable material for understanding Feininger's development, his experiences during a period of political upheaval, and his artistic life after returning to the United States in 1937.

Alfred Stieglitz and the transformation of photography

The second-highest estimate in the catalogue belongs to lot 48, an extensive and nearly complete collection of Camera Work, the influential photographic quarterly edited and published by Alfred Stieglitz in New York between 1903 and 1917. The issues offered in the sale date from 1903 to 1914.

Estimated at €60,000, the collection represents one of the defining publishing achievements in the history of artistic photography.

When Stieglitz launched Camera Work in 1903, photography was still fighting for recognition as a legitimate form of fine art. The journal became a major platform for photographers who believed that the camera could be used for artistic interpretation rather than merely mechanical documentation.

Distinguished by its elegant design and exceptionally fine reproductions, Camera Work introduced readers to important developments in photographic practice while helping establish a wider intellectual conversation about the medium's place within modern art.

The collection offered in Hamburg includes photogravures, some printed on Japanese paper, as well as numerous additional illustrations. The auction house also highlights a handwritten dedication by Stieglitz to photographer Frank Eugene, giving the group an additional personal connection to the circle of artists associated with the publication.

For collectors and historians, the significance of Camera Work extends beyond the photographs it reproduced. The journal helped shape the language through which photography was discussed, exhibited and understood during a period of rapid artistic change.

Illuminated manuscripts and the art of the Renaissance

The auction also offers exceptional examples of European manuscript illumination.

Lot 1, a Franciscan breviary produced in northern Italy between approximately 1470 and 1476, carries an estimate of €40,000. Known as the Salerno Breviary, the manuscript contains 29 elaborate historiated initials embellished with polished gold leaf and eight large floral decorative initials.

Created for a Franciscan bishop belonging to the noble Salerno family of Verona, the manuscript bears the family's coat of arms and reflects the sophisticated visual culture of Renaissance northern Italy.

Another illuminated work, lot 2, is a Flemish Book of Hours dating from approximately 1480 to 1500, likewise estimated at €40,000. Produced in Ghent or Bruges, it contains 19 magnificent miniatures and richly decorated borders featuring flowers, fruit, animals and heraldic motifs.

Such manuscripts illuminate the world before the widespread availability of printed books, when religious texts could become elaborate artistic objects combining painting, calligraphy, decoration and fine binding.

Atlases, natural history and the expanding world

The sale's historical range extends into cartography and scientific illustration.

A rare Atlas maior by Frederick de Wit, produced in Amsterdam around 1700, is estimated at €50,000. The atlas includes a maritime section featuring engraved cartouches by Romeyn de Hooghe, with maps and decorative elements preserved in contemporary coloring.

Also estimated at €50,000 is a complete series of the topographical publications associated with Matth�us Merian and Martin Zeiller, documenting the landscapes, cities and architectural heritage of Europe. The volumes offer a visual record of places and urban environments across an extended period of European history.

Among the natural-history highlights, a volume combining two celebrated publications by Maria Sibylla Merian, issued in Amsterdam in 1730, is estimated at €30,000. The works document insects and flowers of Suriname and Europe, reflecting the artist-naturalist's pioneering interest in the relationships between insects, plants and their environments.

The catalogue identifies the copy as originating from the Basel branch of the Merian family, adding a noteworthy element of provenance.

Modern art on paper

Collectors interested in twentieth-century art will also find material by some of its best-known figures.

Max Beckmann's Jahrmarkt (Fairground), a portfolio of ten original etchings published in Munich in 1922, is estimated at €25,000. The catalogue describes the set as a significant example of Expressionist printmaking, characterized by the artist's sharp forms and psychologically charged observations of modern life.

Additional works in the sale include important Bauhaus documents, original graphic works, artists' letters and publications linking the printed page to the experimental artistic movements of the modern period.

The diversity of the material underscores the continuing importance of books and archival documents as works of art in their own right. A handwritten letter can preserve an artist's working ideas; a photographic journal can document the emergence of a new visual language; and an illuminated manuscript can provide direct evidence of artistic traditions centuries old.

In the case of the Feininger correspondence, these qualities converge in an archive that records artistic friendships, historical change and creative expression across more than 35 years.

The sale will be held at Ketterer Kunst, Holstenwall 5, Hamburg, on November 23, 2026. Public previews are scheduled for November 16–20 and November 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All estimates are stated in euros and do not represent final selling prices.