Werner Drewes
American, 1899 - 1985
Werner Drewes was born in Niederlausitz, Germany in 1899. He served in WWI and then studied architecture and design in Berlin and Stuttgart. In 1921, he began studying with Paul Klee in Weimar at the Bauhaus. After a period of world travel, he returned to the Bauhaus in Dessau to continue his studies with Klee. At this time, he also studied with the noted avant-garde painter, Wassily Kandinsky. In 1930, Drewes moved to New York where he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum. He became a U.S. citizen in 1936. In 1940, he was named Director of the WPA’s Graphic Arts Division. In 1945, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy asked Drewes to come to Chicago to teach at the New Bauhaus. From 1946 until his retirement in 1965, he became a revered instructor at the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Drewes exhibited widely at most of the major national American museum venues including the Annual Exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Carnegie Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His artwork can be found in such major museum collections as the Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. Drewes died in Reston, VA in 1985.
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Vermont, 1957Oil on canvas23 x 29 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; signed, titled, and dated on reverse.
#15326 -
Easter Island, 1969Oil on canvas board10 x 14 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.
#15330 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on canvas board9 x 12 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#8808 -
Outlook Into The Future, 1984Oil on paper6 1/2 x 7 inches
Signed Drewes, lower right; numbered lower left; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#15339 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on paper8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#8804 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum6 x 7 1/2 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15354 -
Summer Day, 1980Oil on canvas32 x 44 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated with artist's device lower right; signed, titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#7898 -
Happy Fragmentation, 1978Oil on canvas36 x 42 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated with artist's device lower right; signed, titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#7897 -
Untitled (Irises), ca. 1955Oil on vellum8 x 6 1/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15353 -
UntitledOil on vellum5 1/4 x 3 3/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15357 -
Untitled (Orchids)Oil on paper8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#8803 -
Untitled (Still Life), 1977Oil on vellum6 x 5 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right.
#15352 -
Flower Pots and Pineapple, 1945Oil on canvas8 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; titled, numbered, dated and inscribed with artist’s monogram on reverse.
#4098 -
Untitled (Study for Flower Pots and Pineapple), 1945Oil on canvas6 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches
Signed and dated Drewes 1945, lower right
#15332 -
Untitled (Still Life), 1945Oil on canvas board5 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Estate numbered lower right
#15331 -
Vermont Scene (from Osgood's Window), 1957Oil on vellum12 1/2 x 15 inches
Signed, dated and numbered lower left; dated lower right; titled, numbered and dated on reverse.
#15338 -
Inverness, 1952Oil on vellum8 x 10 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes, lower right; dated lower left; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#15346 -
South to Freebergs, St. Louis, ca. 1956Oil on vellum8 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#15355 -
Winter in The Rockies, No. 2, 1959Oil on vellum9 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches
Signed Drewes -59-, lower left.
#15342 -
Wind River , Wyoming, 1956Oil on vellum8 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches
Signed and dated Drewes -55-, lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.
#15344 -
Autumn Landscape, Bucks County, 1978Oil on vellum6 x 8 3/4 inches
Signed and dated Drewes '78, lower right; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#15350 -
Blue Boat on Beach, 1953Oil on vellum8 1/2 x 11 inches
Signed and dated Drewes -53-, lower right.
#15341 -
Old Houses, St. Genevieve, 1952Oil on vellum8 x 10 1/2 inches
Signed and dated Drewes '52, lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.
#15347 -
Old Houses, St. Genevieve, 1952Oil on vellum8 x 10 1/4 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.
#15340 -
Basque Fishing Village, 1955Oil on vellum9 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches
Signed and dated Drewes -55-, lower right.
#15343 -
Landscape- Tivoli, Italy, 1952Oil on canvas7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches
Signed and dated Drewes 1952, lower right.
#15333 -
Industrial Scene, 1953Oil on vellum4 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches
Titled, dated and numbered on reverse.
#15345 -
Untitled , 1969Conté crayon on paper5 x 8 1/4 inches
Signed and dated with artist’s monogram lower right; numbered lower left.
#15335 -
Untitled, ca. 1969Conté crayon on paper5 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15336 -
Forest in Massachusetts, 1973Oil on vellum8 x 12 1/2 inches
Signed and dated Drewes '73, lower right; numbered lower left; titled, numbered and dated on reverse.
#15337 -
Untitled (Abstraction), 15358Oil on paper4 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15358 -
Untitled (Abstraction), 1939Oil on canvas3 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches
Signed and dated with artist’s monogram lower right;
Signed and dated with artist’s monogram on reverse#14736 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum5 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#8806 -
Peace for the World, 1980Oil on canvas board5 x 5 1/2 inches
Signed and dated with artist’s monogram,
lower right#14737 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum3 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#15334 -
Impact, 1977Oil on paper4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; inscribed and dated with artist’s monogram, lower right
#14738 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum4 1/2 x 6 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#4109 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum5 x 7 1/2 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#4101 -
Untitled (Abstraction)Oil on vellum4 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist.
#4104 -
Untitled (Lincoln Center, New York City), ca. 1950Oil on vellum5 x 7 inches
Signed Drewes, lower right.
#15356 -
Untitled (Woman Reading a Newspaper)Oil on paper6 x 7 1/4 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left.
#15359 -
Untitled (Abstraction), 1942Watercolor on paper8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated with artist’s monogram, lower right.
#15975 -
Unititled (Abstraction), 1941Mixed media on paper8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes and dated, lower left; signed with artist’s monogram, lower right.
#16066 -
Untitled (View of the Eiffel Tower, Paris), 1955Ink on paper12 x 9 1/2 inches
Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right.
#15360
Werner Drewes was born in Niederlausitz, Germany in 1899. He served in WWI and then studied architecture and design in Berlin and Stuttgart. In 1921, he began studying with Paul Klee in Weimar at the Bauhaus. After a period of world travel, he returned to the Bauhaus in Dessau to continue his studies with Klee. At this time, he also studied with the noted avant-garde painter, Wassily Kandinsky. In 1930, Drewes moved to New York where he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum. He became a U.S. citizen in 1936. In 1940, he was named Director of the WPA’s Graphic Arts Division. In 1945, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy asked Drewes to come to Chicago to teach at the New Bauhaus. From 1946 until his retirement in 1965, he became a revered instructor at the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Drewes exhibited widely at most of the major national American museum venues including the Annual Exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Carnegie Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His artwork can be found in such major museum collections as the Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. Drewes died in Reston, VA in 1985.
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