Early 20th Century Abstract Prints

This artwork titled "Spring 69" 1969 is an original color lithograph by American artist Nancy Genn, b. 1929. It is hand signed, titled and inscribed Artist Proof in pencil by the artist. The size is 23.75 x 34.65 inches. It is in excellent condition, it has very small marks in the back due to tape removal from previous framing, not visible from the front. About the artist: Nancy Genn is an American artist living and working in Berkeley, California known for works in a variety of media, including paintings, bronze sculpture, printmaking, and handmade paper rooted in the Japanese washi paper making tradition Her work explores geometric abstraction, non-objective form, and calligraphic mark making, and features light, landscape, water, and architecture motifs. She is influenced by her extensive travels, and Asian craft, aesthetics and spiritual traditions. Genn's first noted solo exhibition was in 1955 at Gump's Gallery in San Francisco. She received international recognition through her inclusion in French art critic Michel Tapié’s seminal text Morphologie Autre (1960), which cited her as one of the most important exponents of post-war informal art. Her abstract expressionist paintings of this period, continuing through the mid-1970s, featured all-over compositions of colorful layers of gestural brushwork and calligraphic mark making resembling asemic writing. In 1961, Genn began creating bronze sculptures using the lost-wax casting method. Influenced by noted sculptor and family friend Claire Falkenstein, who used open-formed structures in her work, Genn cast forms woven from long grape vine cuttings, and produced vessels, fountains, fire screens, a menorah, a lectern, and, notably, the Cowell Fountain (1966) at UC Santa Cruz. In 1963 her sculptural work was exhibited with Berkeley artists Peter Voulkos and Harold Paris in the influential exhibition Creative Casting curated by Paul J. Smith at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York. Genn was one of the first American artists to express herself through handmade paper, first receiving wide recognition via exhibitions at Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York, beginning in 1977, and in traveling exhibitions with Robert Rauschenberg and Sam Francis. In 1978-1979, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and Japan Creative Arts Fellowship, she studied papermaking in Japan, visiting local paper craftspeople, working in Shikenjo studio in Saitama Prefecture,[5] and exhibiting her work in Tokyo. She also learned techniques from Donald Farnsworth...

Gothic Decorative Motifs is a vintage chromolithograph realized by an anonymous artist in the early 20th Century. Good conditions. The artwork represents Gothic Decorative motifs i...

Nebulae. Antique lithograph by W & AK Johnston, famous Scottish cartographers. Central vertical fold as issued. From Thomas Heath's 'The Twentieth Centur...

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

Lithograph on Arches Vellum Hand-signed and numbered 29 1/2h x 22w in 74.93h x 55.88w cm 5/50 HMA006 D. 442 (or D.-M. 442)

CYRIL POWER (1874 - 1951) THE TUBE STAIRCASE, 1929 (Coypel CEP 11) Linocut, a likely unique proof impression of the key block in reverse, suggesting a counterproof. Unsigned. 17 ½” x 10”, sheet 20 x 14 ¾”. On a sheet of brown wove paper similar to newsprint. A few repaired tears in the margins. Provenance: Redfern Gallery, 2014 with label and inventory no. Redfern Gallery has represented the Grosvenor School...

Decorative motifs of the French Renaissance is a vintage chromolithograph realized by an anonymous artist of the early 20th Century. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorat...

Paul Klee's Garten Der Liedenschaft (Garden of Passion) is one of his precious few etchings. Widely recognized as one of the great artists of the twentieth century, Klee's work man...

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

Pablo Picasso "Suite 347" 1968 Engraved Hand signed. Print run of 50 copies, 22/50. 45 x 58 cm.

One of America's great modernist innovators, Max Weber carved Figure, 1919-20, on the end piece of a wooden cigar box. This Cubist image is composed o...

A Sandstorm on the Little Colorado River, Arizona. 1920. Soft-ground etching. Seeber 189. 6 7/8 x 9 3/4 (sheet 9 5/8 x 13). Edition 40, #6. Series: Desert Set. Illustrated: American ...

Decorative Motifs of the Italian Renaissance is an original print by an anonymous artist. Chromolithograph. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorative motifs of the Italia...

Decorative motifs of the German Renaissance is an original print by an anonymous artist. Chromolithograph. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorative motifs of the German ...

Kunstdruck, entstanden anläßlich Leo Castelli exhibition in New York Zustand; Darstellung im guten Zustand, leichte Randmängel

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

This striking Art Deco lithograph poster, entitled "Pianos Daude," was created by the talented French artist Andre Daude around 1926. The poster is...

Decorative motifs of the German Renaissance is a vintage chromolithograph. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorative motifs of the German...

KANDINSKY, Wassily. Allerheiligen- All Saints Day. Original three-color woodcut (red, yellow ochre, blue – with olive green). 1911. Signed with the monogram...

.Decorative motifs of the Chinese Renaissance is an original print by an anonymous artist. Chromolithograph. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorative motifs of the Chine...

A very good impression of this scarce color etching and drypoint. Fourth state (of 4). Signed and numbered 54/100 in pencil, lower margin.

John Marin (1870-1953), Downtown, The El, etching, 1921, signed in pencil lower left (also signed and dated in the plate). Reference: Zigrosser 134, only state. Published initially by Alfred Stieglitz and then included as part of the Folio of American Etchings by the magazine The New Republic in 1924, in an edition of unknown size but probably above 500. In very good condition, the full sheet, on Van Gelder wove paper, 6 3/4 x 8 3/4, the sheet 11 x 13 3/4 inches. Provenance: Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York. A fine bright impression. Initially the New Republic Set, sometimes known as Six American Etchings, contained Marin’s Brooklyn Bridge No. 6 (Swaying) (Zigrosser 112). But after a small number of sets were completed, Downtown the El was substituted for Zigrosser 112 (and so the number of Downtown The Els in the set would have been a bit fewer than the others in the set). Zigrosser, who apparently had not seen a complete set at the time he created the catalogue raisonne, conjectured that the substitution might have been because the original plate was damaged. But since the printer, Peter Platt, was the most renowned artist’s printer of his time, and worked alone, it is unlikely that he would have damaged the plate; a more likely possibility is that he switched to a print that was more comparable in size to the others in the set (The Brooklyn Bridge print...

New York and California Artist, Harry Sternberg (1904-2001) Original Etching created 1929. Pencil Signed lower right, pencil titled lower left. Edition size is seen lower center: 40 ...

Lithograph realized by Abel Pann in 1920 ca. Hand signed lower right. Good condition except for a big repaired rip in the top right.

GEORGE SHERINGHAM (1884-1937) The Wave Signed and numbered 2 Stencil print with 9 plates, designed and cut by the artist, fan shaped 23 by 42 cm., 9 by 16 ½ in. (frame size 37.5 by 22 cm., 14 ¾ by 8 ¾ in.) Sheringham was born in London and studied at the Slade under Henry Tonks and later in Venice, Brussels, Berlin and Paris where he held his first one-man exhibition in 1905. On his return to London he initially supported himself with poster designs and teaching. His first exhibition of fan designs was held at the Ryder Gallery in 1909 followed by another in the following year. With enthusiastic reviews in Studio he had launched his career as a decorative designer, theatrical designer and illustrator. He illustrated books by Max Beerbohm and Cyrus MacMillan. In 1921 he collaborated with his brother Hugh on a book about fishing, The Book of the Fly Rod. He wrote Drawing in Pen and Pencil (1922), with James Laver, Design in the Theatre (1927) and with Rupert Mason and R Boyd Morrison he edited Robes of Thespis, Costume Designs by Modern Artists (1928). As a decorator, Sheringham designed the music room at 40 Devonshire House...

This linocut in black ink is hand signed in pencil by the artist ‘Moholy-Nagy’ in the lower right margin. It was hand printed by the artist in 1922. Note: Another dedicated impressi...

Kees van Dongen (b. 1877, Delfshaven – d. 1968 Monte Carlo) He is considered a Fauvist, but his style is still nevertheless closely related to the German Expressionists. He is appr...

Baumberger, Otto. PKZ 1923, Color lithograph, On Linen 50 1/2 x 35 1/2” Baumberger was one of the most prolific Swiss poster artists, with well over 200 designs to his credit. Beginning in 1917, he regularly worked for PKZ. This poster is not only the best he produced for the company but is also an icon in poster history. The tweed coat is rendered in near-photographic perfection to the point where you can practically feel the fabric. Baumberger took a totally new approach to advertising by ingeniously incorporating the poster's text into the image in the form of the label in the coat. With this poster Baumberger cemented his role as master of the "Object Poster," (a title he earned four years earlier with a classic image of a top hat), and began the trend of "New Objectivity" within the Swiss school of Graphic Design. A sensation from the day it was issued, this image remains compelling and proves to be one of the finest of the PKZ posters...

Raoul Dufy was an important multifaceted French artist who worked in a variety of media including painting, print making, mural design, theatre and costume design, upholstery, wall paper, ceramics, and fabric. In his paintings he often depicted the circus, equestrian scenes, Parisian cafe life, yachting scenes, colorful views of the French Riviera, and musical events in a distinctive style that combined the various artistic trends of the day, most notably Fauvism. Born in 1877 in Le Havre France, and after a year of military service in 1900, Dufy won a scholarship to the Ecole Nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, studying under Othon Friesz. He exhibited extensively throughout Paris and France at the various salons, including the Salon des Tuileries. For the 1937 Exposition Internationale in Paris, Dufy completed one of the largest paintings ever conceived, a 250...

Claude Flight (1881-1955), Swing Boats, circa 1919-1921, color linoleum cut on very thin Japan paper, signed and numbered by the artist lower left. In very ...

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right]. Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat. A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink. Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14. Provenance: Kornfeld Auction, Bern, June 2007. The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed...

Lyonel Feininger, 'Da-Da I' also titled by the artist 'Der Abgott' (The Idol), woodcut, 1918, a proof impression. Prasse W91. Signed in pencil and annotated '1876', the artist’s inv...

The present woodcut print comes from 'Klänge (Sounds),' a book of original graphics and poetry by Wassily Kandinsky. This first edition was released in an edition of 300, each book signed and numbered by the artist. The title of the album and this particular print, 'Improvisation,' demonstrated Kandinsky's interest in music and how abstract musical forms could be translated into images on a two-dimensional surface. This particular composition is difficult to read, but through the abstraction, one can make out various figures and a landscape beyond. 7.5 x 5 inches, image 22 x 19.5 inches, frame Woodcut in black ink on laid paper (watermark Van Gelder Zonen) Signed with encircled 'K' in the block, lower right Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent acid free archival materials including silk-lined matting with 1/4 inch bevel, museum glass, and a gold-gilded moulding Ref. Roethel 124 The Museum of Modern Art described 'Klänge (Sounds)' as follows: Vasily Kandinsky's self-described "musical album," Klänge (Sounds), consists of thirty-eight prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and fifty-six woodcuts he began in 1907. In the woodcuts Kandinsky veiled his subject matter, creating increasingly indecipherable images (though the horse and rider, his symbol for overcoming objective representation, runs through as a leitmotif). This process proved crucial for the development of abstraction in his art. Kandinsky said his choice of media sprang from an "inner necessity" for expression: the woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely verbal descriptions. Kandinsky sought a synthesis of the arts, in which meaning was created through the interaction of, and space between, text and image, sound and meaning, mark and blank space. The experimental typography shows his interest in the physical aspects of the book. Klänge is one of three major publications by Kandinsky that appeared shortly before World War I, alongside Über die Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) and the Blaue Reiter almanac...

From the Series “Métamorphoses”, one of the most important graphic works of the founder of the “Metafisica” Movement. Original colour etching numbered and signed by the artist, reali...

Albert Gleizes, 'Descente de Croix', color pochoir, 1928, edition c. 50. Signed and dated in pencil. A fine, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on heavy, cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (3 to 4 inches), in very good condition. The publisher's ink stamp 'EDITIONS MOLY-SABATA' beneath the image, lower left. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 12 x 14 inches (305 x 356 mm); sheet size 18 x 22 inches (457 x 559 mm). ABOUT THE IMAGE After the 1927 painting 'Descente de Croix', one of three religious-themed works that Gleizes developed as preliminaries for murals at the church at Serrières, France, the project was terminated at its final phase, and Gleizes commissioned master printer Robert Pouyaud to create prints of the paintings, closely overseeing the production. ABOUT THE MEDIUM Pochoir is a refined stencil-based technique employed to create multiples or to add color to prints produced in other mediums. Characterized by its crisp lines and rich color, the print-making process was most popular from the late 19th century through the 1930s, with its center of activity in Paris. The pochoir process began with the analysis of an image’s composition, including color tones and densities. The numerous stencils (made of aluminum, copper, or zinc) necessary to create a complete image were then designed and hand-cut by the 'découpeur.' The 'coloristes' applied watercolor or gouache pigments through the stencils, skillfully employing a variety of different brushes and methods of paint application to achieve the desired depth of color and textural and tonal nuance. The pochoir process, by its handcrafted methodology, resulted in the finished work producing the effect of an original painting, and in fact, each print was unique. ABOUT THE ARTIST Albert Gleizes (1881-1953), born in Paris, France, was a pioneering figure in the development of abstract art and one of the leading proponents of Cubism. His contributions to the art world extended beyond his paintings; he was also a prolific writer and theoretician, advocating for a new approach to art that emphasized the geometric abstraction of form and a departure from representational traditions. Gleizes initially studied painting at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was exposed to the academic conventions of the time. However, his artistic vision was profoundly influenced by encounters with avant-garde movements, including Fauvism and the work of Paul Cézanne. These influences led Gleizes to experiment with form and color, gradually moving away from traditional representation toward a more abstract and geometric style. After completing his secondary schooling, Gleizes spent four years in the French army and then began pursuing a career as a painter, primarily doing landscapes. Initially influenced by the Impressionists, he was only twenty-one years of age when his work titled ‘La Seine à Asnières’ was exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1902. The following year, he was part of the first Salon d'Automne and soon came under the influence of Fernand Léger, Robert Delaunay, Jean Metzinger, and Henri Le Fauconnier. In 1907, Gleizes and some of his friends pursued the idea of creating a self-supporting community of artists that would allow them to develop their art free of any commercial concerns. For nearly a year, Gleizes  , with other painters, poets, musicians, and writers, lived at a large house in Créteil, but a lack of funds forced them to give up their facility in early 1908, and Gleizes moved temporarily into La Ruche, the artist commune in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris. In the early 1910s, Gleizes became associated with the Cubist movement, which was spearheaded by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque...

Published edition, not trial proof Open Action. 1926/1928. Etching. Giardina 124. 7 x 15 1/8 (sheet 12 3/4 x 15 1/4). Trial proof, prior to the edition of 90. A rich, tonal impressi...

Wassily Kandinsky - Improvisation 11 1910 Lithograph in colors on Arches paper, 1990 Paper size 24" x 24" inches Image size 18" x 20" inches Stamped signature Blindstamps of the Russ...

Klänge (Sounds) is one of the first examples of an artist’s book and contains both poems and woodcuts by Kandinksy. Of the 25 hors-texte illustrations, 12 are in color and 13 are in...

Lyonel Feininger, 'Masken (Masks)' also 'Carnival Masks', woodcut, 1920, proofs only. Prasse W193. Signed and titled in pencil. Annotated '1973', the artist’s inventory number. A fin...

Color etching on Rives wove paper, with watermark and dry stampo "Editeur Maeght". Preinted in the mid-20th Century after the 1925 Kandinsky's composition. Monogrammed and dated in ...

Wassily Kandinsky - Composition 1916 Lithograph in colors on Arches paper, 1990 Paper size 24" x 28" inches Image size 20" x 22" inches Stamped signature (16) Blindstamps of the Russ...

Standard Oil Building. 1923. Etching. Wuerth 817. 12 1/4 x 9 1/4 (sheet 13 1/2 x 10 1/16). Edition probably 50. A glowing impression, printed by the artist on antique cream wove paper. Signed and annotated 'imp' in pencil. Housed in a 20 x 16-inch archival mat proof printed by the artist. $875. 26 Broadway" is the home of the Standard Oil...

CLAUDE FLIGHT (1881 -1955) SWING BOATS 1921 (Coppel CF5) Color linocut, signed & no. 23/50, 8 5/8 x 11”. Sheet 10 x 13” on thin paper tipped to black-b...

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

Maria Sanmartin-Bodegon started painting in 1947. She was encouraged by her son Antoni Clave' who also was a great painter. She exhibited in salons throughout Europe including Paris,...

From the Series “Métamorphoses”, one of the most important graphic works of the founder of the “Metafisica” Movement. Original colour etching numbered and signed by the artist, reali...

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

Frantisek Kupka, Czech (1871 -1957) - Bílé rytmy na černém, Year: 1912, Medium: Woodcut on gray wove paper, signed in the plate and stamp signed, Image Size: 10 x 16 inches, Size:...

'Improvisation 7' second ed. woodcut from 'Klänge' is a woodcut print created by Wassily Kandinsky. The present woodcut print comes from the second edition of 'Klänge (Sounds),' a book of original graphics and poetry by Wassily Kandinsky. The title of the album and of this print, 'Improvisation,' demonstrated Kandinsky's interest in music and how abstract musical forms could be translated into images on a two-dimensional surface. This particular composition is difficult to read, but through the abstraction, one can make out various figures and a landscape beyond. Originally carved and printed in 1911, this second edition print was done ca. 1938. It is a woodcut in black ink on woven paper. Signed with encircled 'K' in the block, lower right (from the book, signed in ink, ed. 117/300) Image Size: 7 1/2" x 5 inches Frame Size: 22 1/4" x 18 3/4" Ref. Roethel 124 Artist Bio: The Museum of Modern Art described 'Klänge (Sounds)' as follows: Vasily Kandinsky's self-described "musical album," Klänge (Sounds), consists of thirty-eight prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and fifty-six woodcuts he began in 1907. In the woodcuts Kandinsky veiled his subject matter, creating increasingly indecipherable images (though the horse and rider, his symbol for overcoming objective representation, runs through as a leitmotif). This process proved crucial for the development of abstraction in his art. Kandinsky said his choice of media sprang from an "inner necessity" for expression: the woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely verbal descriptions. Kandinsky sought a synthesis of the arts, in which meaning was created through the interaction of, and space between, text and image, sound and meaning, mark and blank space. The experimental typography shows his interest in the physical aspects of the book. Klänge is one of three major publications by Kandinsky that appeared shortly before World War I, alongside Über die Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) and the Blaue Reiter almanac...

Fernand Léger, French (1881 -1955) - Broom, Year: 1922, Medium: Woodcut, Image Size: 11.5 x 8.5 inches, Size: 12.5 x 9 in. (31.75 x 22.86 cm), Frame Size: 18 x 15 inches, Descri...

Original lithograph in excellent condition by Louis Lozowick (1892-1973). Pencil signed lower right. Edition size lower left. No. 24 in the Raisonne by Janet Flint. Edition of 20. Th...

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Jacques POLI Surrealist Bird Original lithograph and collage Handsigned in pencil Numbered /150 copies On vellum 76 x 56 cm (c. 29.9 x 22) Excellent condition

Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the volume, Allo! Paris!, 1926. Published by Éditions des ...

Roman Decorative motifs is a vintage chromolithograph realized by an anonymous artist. Good conditions. The artwork represents Roman Decorative motifs in a well-balanced composition.

Figure is an original etching on paper realized by Edgard Chahine. Signed on the plate. Good conditions. The artwork is on the cover of a menu. The artwork is depicted with confid...

Jacques POLI Composition with Birds Original lithograph Handsigned in pencil Numbered /150 copies On vellum 76 x 56 cm (c. 29.9 x 22 in) Excellent condition

Gothic Stained Glass is an original print on paper realized by an Anonymous artist in the early 20th Century. Passepartout included: 49x 34 cm. ...

Decorative motifs of the French Renaissance is a vintage chromolithograph realized by an anonymous artist of the early 20th Century. Good conditions. The artwork represents Decorat...

Ecce Homo VII Woodcut, 1921 Signed, titled, and dated in pencil by the artist One of only three known impressions Created while the artist was studying at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. Extreme rarity-One of three know impressions Note: In 1921 Drewes went to the Bauhaus in Weimar, where, after completing the compulsory preliminary course with Johannes Itten, he continued to study with Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer and Georg Muche and initially went to the wall painting workshop. He then traveled extensively through Europe, North America and Asia. After returning to Germany in 1927, he went back to the Bauhaus, this time to his new location in Dessau, where he studied in the classes of László Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky. He was one of the first artists to introduce the groundbreaking concepts of the Bauhaus School in the United States through his painting, printmaking, and teaching. Condition: Excellent Missing small voids in the upper margin from removal of the original hinges. Image size: 9 7/8 x 8 3/16 inches Reference: Rose 30 Provenance: From the estate of Drewes's teacher at the Bauhaus. During the pasot WW2 the professor lived in East Germany. WERNER DREWES 1899-1985 Werner Drewes initially studied architecture before enrolling, in 1921-22, at the Bauhaus in Weimar under Klee, Kandinsky, Itten and Feininger. For four years - 1923 to 1927 - he travelled the world with his bride, before completing his Bauhaus training in Dessau in 1929. He immigrated to the United States in 1930, documenting that move to New York through series of woodcuts. In 1936/37 he was an active founder of the American Abstract Artists and participated in the Federal Arts Project in New York before moving on to a teaching career at Washington University in St. Louis. As an artist for over sixty five years, he employed various media from drawing and watercolor, through woodcut and etching, to painting and collage. Translating an early interest in subjective cubistic forms, his work evolved into nonobjective abstraction. He was creative until the day of his death. Courtesy: Toby C. Moss Werner Drewes (1899–1985) was a painter, printmaker, and art teacher. Considered to be one of the founding fathers of American abstraction, he was one of the first artists to introduce concepts of the Bauhaus school within the United States. His mature style encompassed both nonobjective and figurative work and the emotional content of this work was consistently more expressive than formal. Drewes was as highly regarded for his printmaking as for his painting. In his role as teacher as well as artist he was largely responsible for bringing the Bauhaus aesthetic to America. Early life and education Drewes was born in 1899 to Georg Drewes, a Lutheran pastor, and Martha Schaefer Drewes. The family lived in the village of Canig within Lower Lusatia, Germany. From age eight to eighteen he attended the Saldria Gymnasium, a boarding school in Brandenburg an der Havel. There, he showed talent both for painting and woodblock printing. Graduating from Saldria in 1917, he was drafted by the German army and served in France from then until the close of the war. About this period of his life he is reported to have said that the horrors of life at the front were only made tolerable by his sketchbook, a copy of Goethe's Faust and a volume of Nietzsche. For a decade following the close of the war he studied, made paintings and prints, and traveled widely. His friend, Herwarth Walden, helped shape his appreciation for expressionist literature and art. Walden produced the quarterly magazine, Der Sturm and ran a gallery of contemporary art, Galerie Der Sturm, from which, in 1919, Drewes purchased an expressionist painting by William Wauer titled Blutrausch (Bloodlust). In the same year he made the acquaintance of Heinrich Vogeler and participated in Vogeler's socialist utopian artists' commune, Barkenhoff, at Worpswede, Lower Saxony. In 1919 Drewes also enrolled at the Königlich Technischen Hochschule Charlottenburg to study architecture and the following year he studied the same subject at the Technischen Hochschule Stuttgart. Preferring art over architecture, he then enrolled in Stuttgart's school of applied arts (Kunstgewerbeschule) where he studied life drawing and learned to work with colored glass. At this time he joined a group of artists and architects associated with the newly formed Merz Akademie, a college of design, art, and media in Stuttgart. In 1921 his friendship with a French artist, Sébastien Laurent, led him to begin studies in Weimar at Bauhaus, then a new school which taught an integrated approach to the fine and applied arts. His instructors were Johannes Itten and Lyonel Feininger, whose paintings were expressionist and abstract, and Paul Klee, who taught bookbinding, stained glass, and murals. While at Bauhaus Drewes produced a portfolio of ten woodblock prints entitled "Ecce Homo." In 1923 and 1924 he studied art during travels throughout Italy, Spain, the United States, and Central America and in 1926 he traveled to San Francisco, Japan, and Korea, thence taking the Trans-Siberian railway to Manchuria, Moscow, and Warsaw. He later said the El Grecos he saw proved to be most influential in his work. While traveling, he exhibited: (1) etchings in Madrid (1923) and Montevideo (1924), oils and etchings in Buenos Aires and St. Louis (1925), and (3) etchings in San Francisco (1926). He paid his way by the sales these exhibits produced and by taking commissions to paint portraits. While in San Francisco he set up a shop from which he sold prints he had made in Spain and South America. After his return to Germany in 1927 he resumed study at Bauhaus, which had been forced to relocate in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt. His instructors at that time were László Moholy-Nagy (metal work), Wassily Kandinsky, and (painting), and Lyonel Feininger (prints). At this time he also worked and exhibited in Frankfurt. With the rise of Nazism abstract artists found it increasingly difficult to sell their work and, in 1930, Drewes, finding the political pressure unbearable, emigrated to the United States. There, despite the world economic crisis, Drewes was able to earn a living as a professional artist. Mature style After Drewes moved to New York, Kandinsky, who was both friend and mentor, continued to exert a strong influence over his style. Later in life he said he had a hard time getting away from Kandinsky's influence as he developed his own style. In time he was able to bring a more emotional approach to his work and to base it, more than Kandinsky did, on natural forms. In 1930 Drewes had a solo exhibition at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library and a two-person show at the S.P.R. Penthouse Gallery...