In the 1930s, WERNER DREWES became an artist of American interest initially through his printmaking. In his woodcuts was traced the influence of German Expressionism ... bold, forceful, immediate. His Bauhaus training drew out his intuitive powers of structure, abstraction and space which defines his basic aesthetic vocabulary. His art captures rhythms, architecture and the simple drama of abstract elements. Vigorous color vies with black and white in watercolors, etchings, paintings,collages and celoprints and, most importantly, the woodcuts.

We present an overview spanning more than fifty years of work in all media. DREWES's imagery ranges from geometric abstraction to abstracted subjects inspired by his love of world travel - especially throughout the United States, by his respect for nature and by his interest in all peoples he encountered. In his woodcuts we include Elevated, New York 1931, Black Curve on Yellow 1938, Descent into the Mojave 1962 and Twin Formation in Gray 1982 to illustrate that range. The etchings, the paintings and the watercolors cover the same fifty years. We conclude with his brilliant and intriguing collages of the 1970s and '80s.

Explore the work of the American Abstract Artists, the group recognized as presenting the unique language of the century in the United States. WERNER DREWES was a founding member and driving force within this movement.
 

WERNER DREWES - CHRONOLOGY

1899	Born, Canig, Germany
1919/21	Studied architecture in Berlin and Stuttgart
1921/22	Studied with Johannes Itten and Paul Klee at the Bauhaus, Weimar
1923/27	Traveled in Italy and Spain, studying Old Masters. Continued around the world as portrait painter and printmaker.
1927/28	Returned to the Bauhaus under Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger
1930	Emigrated to the United States
1937	Was founding member of American Abstract Artists in New York
1937/40	Instructor at Columbia University, New York
1941/42	Technical Supervisor, Graphics Division, Federal Arts Project, New York
1946/65	Professor of Design and Director of First Year Program, School of Fine Arts, Washington University, St. Louis
1961	One man show, Cleveland Museum of Art
1962	One man show, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, Museum of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco
1966	One man show, Everhart Museum, Scranton
1968	One man show, Trenton State College
1969	One man show, National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC
1974/45	One man traveling State Department show to Turkey and Latin America
1978	One man traveling show to nine cities in West Germany
1979	One man show, Washington University, St. Louis
1982	One man shows in Bonn, West Germany and Washington, DC
1983	One man show, Associated American Artists, New York
1984	Retrospective, National Museum of American Arts, Washington, DC
1985	Died, Reston, Virginia
1986, '90, '92, '94,  '97, 2000, '03	One man shows at Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles

Bibliography:

Martina R. Norelli; WERNER DREWES, Sixty Five Years of Printmaking; National Museum of American Art; 1984

Franz Geierhaas & Brigitte Hellgoth The Creative Act; International Print Society; 1984

Ingrid Rose WERNER DREWES A Catalogue Raisonne of his Prints; Verlag Kunstgalerie Esslingen; Munich-New York; 1984