Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 18

Werner Drewes
“Rocky Mountain Meadow”

1956

About the Item

Original watercolor on archival paper of a Rocky Mountain Meadow by the well known American artist, Werner Drewes. Signed lower right. Titled and dated 1956 on verso of sheet. Condition is very good. Colors are bold and vivid. Sheet size is 20 by 27 inches. Sight size is 19.5 by 25.75 inches. Framed in its original cherry wood frame. Overall framed measurements are 26.5 by 32.5 inches. Under conservation glass. Provenance: Princeton Gallery of Fine Art, Princeton, New Jersey. See gallery label on backing in last photo. Biography • Werner Drewes (1899-1985) Werner Drewes was an artist fascinated with the formal possibilities of line, color and the potential of thematic motifs. Drewes was born in the village of Canig in eastern Germany. He began formal training in architecture and design in Stuttgart following his service in World War I. From 1921 to 1922 he studied at the Bauhaus at Weimar, where he was a pupil of Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Oscar Schlemmer. Drewes then traveled extensively through Italy and Spain to study the Old Masters then set out to travel around the world. In 1927 Drewes returned to Germany and continued his studies at the Bauhaus, which had moved to Dessau, as a student of Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger. He also attended Hinnerk Scheper's mural tutorials and Kandinsky's private painting classes. Drewes and Kandinsky became lifelong friends and both shared the belief that art could be a means towards understanding the larger philosophical issues of life. In 1930 he moved with his family to New York, where he continued his active career, striving to exhibit his work widely. In 1931 Kandinsky introduced Drewes to Katherine Dreier, cofounder of the Société Anonyme. Drewes then had his first of several exhibitions with the Société Anonyme, of which he would later become the vice president. From 1934 to 1936 Drewes taught drawing and printmaking at the Brooklyn Museum School and from 1937 to 1940 he was an instructor of painting and printmaking at Columbia University. In 1936 he became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists and in 1937 he became an American citizen and joined the American Artists' Congress. He also served as director of the WPA Graphic Arts Division in New York City in 1940 and 1941. In 1944 Drewes became a member of Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17 in New York, where he produced experimental intaglio prints. He then taught this technique as an instructor of design and printmaking at Brooklyn College. In the summer of 1945 he became an instructor at Moholy-Nagy's Institute of Design, also known as the "New Bauhaus," in Chicago. In 1946 Drewes accepted the position of Professor of Design at the School of Fine Arts of Washington University in Saint Louis. Drewes continued to teach at Washington University until he retired in 1965. While there he became good friends with Max Beckmann who was also on the University's faculty. The University held an exhibition of Drewes's work in 1979. Drewes maintained an energetic schedule of printmaking, painting, and exhibitions from the 1950s through the 1970s, and his output was prodigious. In 1969, the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington used its substantial holding of the artist's work to circulate Four Decades of Woodcuts by Werner Drewes. The 36 prints on exhibit, most of them brightly colored, were chosen from some 300 in the museum's collection. His series of ten woodcuts entitled It Can't Happen Here rendered in 1934 are some of the earliest totally abstract prints made in this country. The National Museum of American Arts (previously the National Collection of Fine Art) held a retrospective of Drewes's work in 1984. Drewes died in Reston, Virginia in 1985. The work of Werner Drewes can be found in many public collections, including: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.
  • Creator:
    Werner Drewes (1899-1985, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1956
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)Width: 25.75 in (65.41 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Possible foxing in several small spots in mountain. See last photo.
  • Gallery Location:
    Southampton, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU14113157512

More From This Seller

View All
“New York at Night”
By Leon Dolice
Located in Southampton, NY
Very well executed original pastel on archival paper of New York City at night with beacon by the well known American artist, Leon Dolice. Signed lower right. Circa 1930. Condition is excellent. Beautifully gallery framed with stained mahogany wood frame. Under glass. Overall framed measurements are 21 by 30 inches. Birham Wood Galleries, East Hampton, New York provenance. Exhibited artwork. See photo gallery labels verso. Leon Dolice was born in Vienna, Austria on August 14, 1892, the son of a machinest/welder. He went on to study art in Europe and viewing the works of the Masters. Dolice immigrated to the United States in 1920, finding a retreat in the European Bohemianism of Greenwich Village, he picked the streets of this landmark neighborhood as his first subjects. Concentrating on etching and with the encouragement of new found friends and artists such as George Luks and Herb Roth, he soon ventured out and devoted all his time to chronicling the architecture, back streets, dock scenes and other nostalgia that was fast disappearing from the face of Manhattan, mainly in copperplate etchings. A favorite subject for him was the Third Avenue El near one of his New York City studios on Third Avenue. He won accolades for his work, and although he traveled the East Coast recording landmarks in other cities including Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia, he always returned to his new home Manhattan. A decline in popular favor for etchings led him to put aside his plates in the late 1930s and devote some ten years to pastels, linocuts and painting. His subject matter was almost exclusively New York City street scenes, but figurative works, country scenes, and even experiments with Abstract Expressionism at the height of its new found favor in the 1940s punctuated his career. In 1953, after learning of the forthcoming demise of the Third Avenue El, in the shadow of which he had maintained his studio for over a decade, he once again took to his plates and press and created a final series of Third Avenue and or other New York City landmarks that were then threatened with extinction. His work brings to light aspects of nostalgic New York that survives today only in small part, whether in architecture or in spirit. Dolice's works are in a number of notable museums and private collections, including the Museum of the City of New York; The New York Public Library Print Collection; The New York Historical Society; Georgetown University Lauinger Library; The Print Club of Philadelphia and others. In the past few years, his work has been exhibited at Hofstra Museum, Long Island, NY; with the Montauk...
Category

1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel, Archival Paper

“New England Homestead”
Located in Southampton, NY
Very well executed watercolor on archival paper of a New England homestead nestled in a picturesque valley. Early fall with the tress just starting to change colors. The watercolor was done by the American artist Hilton Leech...
Category

1950s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper, Graphite

“The Harbor Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor over graphite under drawing of the harbor with sailboats in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic by the American artist, Wilmot Emerton Heitland. Signed “Heitland” lower right by the artist. Condition is excellent. Circa 1930. Under UV plexiglass. A similar painting of the same harbor done in 1924 by Wilmot Heitland is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artwork is housed in a light blue laminate frame with navy blue mat. Overall framed measurements are 25 by 31 inches. Provenance: A Sarasota, Florida estate. Born 1893 in Wisconsin, Wilmot Emerton Heitland was an illustrator and painter trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For a time, he was president of the American Watercolor Society. He also painted numerous illustrations depicting high society that were published in magazines such as: Collier’s, Women’s Home Companion, Cosmopolitan, and McCall’s, throughout the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Later, Heitland moved on to paint and teach at the Art Club. His paintings can be found in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Brooklyn Museum; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and locally at the Museum of Fine Arts, William R. Hough and Co., Stetson College of Law Library, and the Poynter Institute. Heitland moved to St. Petersburg because of the active Art Club here. He had a solo show of his work at the Art Club in 1963, and served as the exhibition chairman in 1964. He died in 1969. Overview San Felipe de Puerto Plata is the capital of the Puerto Plata province on the Dominican Republic’s Atlantic north coast. The city is best known for its beaches. Playa Dorada’s lengthy beachfront is backed by resorts and an 18-hole golf course. The city’s old colonial-era center is dominated by the 16th-century Fortaleza San Felipe, a Spanish fortress that now houses historical and military artifacts.
Category

1930s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper, Graphite

“Monhegan Island, Maine”
By Ted Davis
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor of Monhegan Island, Maine on archival paper by the well known American watercolorist, Ted Davis. Signed lower right and dated 1950. Cond...
Category

1950s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

"The Winding Road"
By John F. Carlson
Located in Southampton, NY
Here for your consideration is a very well executed pastel on paper by John Fabian Carlson. Signed lower right and mostly likely done in the 1930's...
Category

1920s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel

“Portland Harbor in 1910”
Located in Southampton, NY
Beautiful watercolor and gouache on archival paper by the well known Maine artist Bill Paxton. The watercolor depicts what Portland harbor in Maine looked like in 1910 with sailing vessels of the era moored in the harbor. Signed lower right by the artist. Titled verso. Circa 1975. Condition is excellent and is finely matted and framed. The artwork is matted and framed in a thin gold leaf custom gallery frame. Overall framed measurements are 17.5 by 21.75 inches. Provenance: Sarasota, Florida estate. William (Bill) Paxton 1930—2007 William Paxton, born August 5, 1930 in Lewiston, was one of Maine’s top selling artists. He had a passion for painting and from a young age he was known for his talents in sketching. Paxton captured many popular Maine scenes with watercolor, acrylic, and oils. His work also includes historical scenes he referenced in books from as early as the 1920’s, painting locomotives, aircraft, and war scenes. Paxton’s art is sold all over the world. As a student at Bridgton Academy, he was featured in his yearbook. It states, “When artist Bill picks up his pen, we all stand at attention, for his remarks and pictures are certainly worth mention.” He wanted to pursue a career selling his art, but it was during the time of the Great Depression. Also in his younger years, Paxton had an interest in skiing and won a medal for Second Highest Ski Jump. From there he went to flying and received a certification for Second-in-Command, to fly alongside the captain in a C-46F type of aircraft. He then joined the Air Force in the 40’s, although his passion and talents for art were constant throughout his life. Paxton quickly became the front line military sketch...
Category

1970s Academic Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper

You May Also Like

Green Landscape, Watercolor and Ink on Paper, circa 1926
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Green Landscape" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted landscape painting. The 17.5" x 23.5" watercolor and ink on paper is signed...
Category

1920s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Mid Century "Napa Valley Landscape" Watercolor Painting
By Frederick Pomeroy
Located in Arp, TX
Frederick Pomeroy "Napa Valley Landscape" c. 1960s Watercolor on paper 17"x14" brown wood frame float mount over linen mat Signed in paint lower ...
Category

1960s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Nude Picnic Virgin Islands
By Robert Noel Blair
Located in Buffalo, NY
Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher. He is best known for his rural life & desert landscapes and World War II sc...
Category

1960s American Modern Nude Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Paper, Watercolor

1940s Modernist Trees Watercolor Painting, Framed Vertical Earth Tone Landscape
By Richard Sorby
Located in Denver, CO
This captivating Modernist watercolor painting of a serene forest scene by Richard Sorby (1911-2001) beautifully captures the essence of nature through a minimalist and expressive lens. Painted in the 1940s, the piece features stylized trees in bold, dark hues of green, blue, and black, complemented by earthy tones of brown, orange, and white. The watercolor on paper is signed by the artist in the lower right corner and beautifully framed with archival materials. The outer dimensions of the piece measure 26 ½ x 18 ½ x 1 inches, with the image size itself being 22 ¾ x 14 ¾ inches. About the Artist: Richard Sorby, a Colorado-based artist, was renowned for his distinctive modernist style, blending abstraction with representational themes. Sorby earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado) in 1937 and went on to study under influential mentors, including Vance Kirkland and William Joseph Eastman...
Category

1940s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Modernist Abstract Expressionist Watercolor Painting Bauhaus Weimar Pawel Kontny
By Pawel Kontny
Located in Surfside, FL
Abstract watercolor composition bearing the influence of the earlier color-block compositions of Paul Klee. Pawel August Kontny, (Polish-German-American artist) He was born in Laurahuette, Poland, in 1923, the son of a wealthy pastry shop owner. In 1939 he began studying architecture in Breslau where he was introduced to the European masters and to the work of some of the German Expressionists, soon afterward banned as "degenerate artists" and removed from museums throughout Germany by the Nazi regime. His studies were interrupted by World War II. Drafted into the German army, traveling in many countries as a soldier, he sketched various landscapes but in 1945, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Italy. After the war, he studied at the Union of Nuremberg Architects to help design buildings to replace ones destroyed in the war. He recorded his impressions of the local population and the landscapes through his watercolors and drawings. Pawel Kontny thereafter moved to Nuremberg, Germany, becoming a member of the Union of Nuremberg Architects and helping to rebuild the city's historic center. He soon decided to concentrate on his professional art career. He married Irmgard Laurer, a dancer with the Nuremberg Opera. Pavel Kontny 's career as an artist was launched with his participation in an all German exhibition, held at the Dusseldorf Museum in 1952. He held one-man shows in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. During his trip to the United States in 1960, Kontny became instantly enamored with Colorado, and decided to relocate to Cherry Hills with his wife and two children. He quickly established himself in the local art community, being affiliated for a time with Denver Art Galleries and Saks Galleries. His subject matter became the Southwest. During this time he received the Prestigious Gold Medal of the Art Academy of Rome. His extensive travel provided material for the paintings he did using his hallmark marble dust technique. he also worked equally in pastel, watercolor, charcoal and pencil-and-ink. in a style which merged abstraction and realist styles, influenced by Abstract Expressionist painting and South Western American landscapes. This one bears the influence of Sam Francis. In the early 1960s he was one of only a few European-born professional artists in the state, a select group that included Herbert Bayer (1900-1985), a member of the prewar Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Germany, and Roland Detre (1903-2001), a Hungarian modernist painter. As a Denver, Colorado resident, Pavel Kontny exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the United States, Germany and Japan. There, he was inspired by frequent trips to Native American pueblos in the Southwest, as well as by the study of the Plains Indians of Montana and Wyoming. Over the years Kontny had a number of students and generously helped young artist by hosting exhibitions at his Cherry Hills home. For many years he generously donated his paintings to support charitable causes in Denver. Influences during his European years included German pastelist C.O. Muller, German Informel painter Karl Dahmen and Swiss artist, Hans Erni. In the early 1950s his painting style showed the influence of the Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905 who had a major impact on the evolution of modern art in the twentieth century in Germany. By the middle of the decade his style incorporated more referential abstraction and total abstraction, resulting in part from his study of Hans Hartung, a German artist based in Paris who exhibited his gestural abstract work in Germany. The American moon landing in 1969 inspired Paul Kontny...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Modernist Abstract Expressionist Watercolor Painting Bauhaus Weimar Pawel Kontny
By Pawel Kontny
Located in Surfside, FL
Abstract watercolor composition bearing the influence of the earlier color-block compositions of Paul Klee. Pawel August Kontny, (Polish-German-American artist) He was born in Laurahuette, Poland, in 1923, the son of a wealthy pastry shop owner. In 1939 he began studying architecture in Breslau where he was introduced to the European masters and to the work of some of the German Expressionists, soon afterward banned as "degenerate artists" and removed from museums throughout Germany by the Nazi regime. His studies were interrupted by World War II. Drafted into the German army, traveling in many countries as a soldier, he sketched various landscapes but in 1945, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Italy. After the war, he studied at the Union of Nuremberg Architects to help design buildings to replace ones destroyed in the war. He recorded his impressions of the local population and the landscapes through his watercolors and drawings. Pawel Kontny thereafter moved to Nuremberg, Germany, becoming a member of the Union of Nuremberg Architects and helping to rebuild the city's historic center. He soon decided to concentrate on his professional art career. He married Irmgard Laurer, a dancer with the Nuremberg Opera. Pavel Kontny 's career as an artist was launched with his participation in an all German exhibition, held at the Dusseldorf Museum in 1952. He held one-man shows in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. During his trip to the United States in 1960, Kontny became instantly enamored with Colorado, and decided to relocate to Cherry Hills with his wife and two children. He quickly established himself in the local art community, being affiliated for a time with Denver Art Galleries and Saks Galleries. His subject matter became the Southwest. During this time he received the Prestigious Gold Medal of the Art Academy of Rome. His extensive travel provided material for the paintings he did using his hallmark marble dust technique. he also worked equally in pastel, watercolor, charcoal and pencil-and-ink. in a style which merged abstraction and realist styles, influenced by Abstract Expressionist painting and South Western American landscapes. This one bears the influence of Sam Francis. In the early 1960s he was one of only a few European-born professional artists in the state, a select group that included Herbert Bayer (1900-1985), a member of the prewar Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Germany, and Roland Detre (1903-2001), a Hungarian modernist painter. As a Denver, Colorado resident, Pavel Kontny exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the United States, Germany and Japan. There, he was inspired by frequent trips to Native American pueblos in the Southwest, as well as by the study of the Plains Indians of Montana and Wyoming. Over the years Kontny had a number of students and generously helped young artist by hosting exhibitions at his Cherry Hills home. For many years he generously donated his paintings to support charitable causes in Denver. Influences during his European years included German pastelist C.O. Muller, German Informel painter Karl Dahmen and Swiss artist, Hans Erni. In the early 1950s his painting style showed the influence of the Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905 who had a major impact on the evolution of modern art in the twentieth century in Germany. By the middle of the decade his style incorporated more referential abstraction and total abstraction, resulting in part from his study of Hans Hartung, a German artist based in Paris who exhibited his gestural abstract work in Germany. The American moon landing in 1969 inspired Paul Kontny...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Recently Viewed

View All