7321 Beverly Boulevard • Los
Angeles California 90036 • (323) 933-5523 Fax: (323) 933-7618
web site:
www.tobeycmossgallery.com
•email: tobeymoss@earthlink.net
WERNER DREWES
Paintings and Woodcuts
April 5 through June 28, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday,
April 5th - 2 to 5 pm
Initially an architecture student
at the Bauhaus in Germany, WERNER DREWES’ strong modernist roots
evolved under the tutelage of teachers that included Lyonel Feininger,
Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. After travelling
extensively in many parts of the world, he emigrated to the United
States in 1930. His focus upon abstraction resulted in his
becoming a founding member (together with Josef Albers, Burgoyne
Diller, David Smith, Vaclav Vytlacil and others) of the American
Abstract Artists group in 1936. This revolutionary group of artists
demonstrated for acceptance of abstraction as an art form.
Over next fifty five years - Drewes’ creativity is recorded in his
paintings, watercolors, prints in all techniques and collages, as well
as through his teaching at the New Bauhaus in Chicago during the
1930s/40s and then at Washington University in St.Louis from the
mid-1940s until retirement in l965. This exhibition proves that
retirement did not stop the flow of his art!
Regardless of medium or technique, Drewes was inspired by his heritage
- Expressionism, Bauhaus discipline, inventiveness and structure.
Though he used drawings to capture ideas throughout his career, he
also, frequently, made dynamic collages that became 'studies'
for subsequent compositions. Bold figuration, dramatic
geometric forms, rhythmic abstractions and brilliant palettes combine
to give evidence of a personal aesthetic vocabulary.
Drewes literally died at his easel. This exhibition spans his
illustrious career from 1920s/30s watercolors Harbor Scene, Frankfurt (1928), Encounter (1939) and woodcuts Dynamic Rhythm (1934) through
1940s/50s woodcuts Norther Transition
(1942), Oppression (1944) to
paintings Winter Mummery (1945)
and In the Studio (1950).
Vibrant paintings of the next three decades include Reminiscence of Mexico (1968) and Isolated Units (1970).
Werner Drewes’ works in all media are part of museums and private
collections throughout the world.
Click on
individual images for
more information.
For more images and biographical
data, email
us at tobeymoss@earthlink.net
Also showing: Modernist
Women
