Carnival in Arcueil is important not only for the considerable skill it exhibits but also for the way it combines past and future interests of the artist. Feininger spent several months each year in the French city of Arcueil. Depicting its famed Roman viaduct soaring over a row of tall, narrow houses, the composition reveals a fascination with architectural forms that would continue throughout the artist’s life. Against this expressive, colorful backdrop, Feininger set a scene of revelry. With their elongated and angular bodies, whimsical costumes, and antic behavior, the fantastic characters in the foreground—like the toy figures and houses Feininger fashioned at the same time—are rooted in the artist’s cartooning, in which he was then still involved. While his subsequent work retains the elegance of draftsmanship and keen sense of observation he developed as a cartoonist, Feininger became increasingly committed to expressing... [http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/76240]