The Kin-der-Kids, Japansky Surprises the Governor—General who condemns him to death 1906

Editor: We're looking at a comic strip from 1906 by Lyonel Feininger, titled "The Kin-der-Kids, Japansky Surprises the Governor—General who condemns him to death". It’s rendered in pen and print, a rather quaint combination. The sequence of panels almost tumbles down the page in a somewhat chaotic manner. What do you see in this work from a formalist perspective? Curator: Precisely that tumbling effect. Feininger presents a deliberate distortion of space. Note how the receding lines in each panel fail to converge convincingly, disrupting any illusion of depth. The use of color further enhances this flattening effect. The palette is limited, almost like that found within folk art, with each hue sharply delineated by firm pen lines. Observe the recurring use of saturated greens and reds. How do those choices affect the composition? Editor: It creates a heightened contrast that adds to the sense of playful instability, preventing the eye from truly settling on any one point. Is that an intentional tactic to deny spatial unity? Curator: Undeniably. By rejecting traditional perspective, and embracing contrasting color palettes and fractured picture plane, Feininger draws attention to the two-dimensional surface of the work. He privileges formal elements over narrative clarity. Consider the simplification of form itself – are these not echoes of Ukiyo-e? Feininger forces us to engage with the very essence of drawing as construction. Editor: I never considered that perspective, and how this enhances the reading of the piece, to focus less on what is happening in the story, but how the elements interact with each other, how they make each other "work." Curator: Absolutely. By acknowledging this, we move beyond the subject matter, seeing it purely as an assemblage of graphic elements. A successful exercise of formalism, indeed.