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Werner Drewes
Pointed Shapes and Black Half Moon

1935

About the Item

Werner Drewes, 'Pointed Shapes and Black Half Moon', etching, 1935, edition 20, Rose l.198. Signed, dated, and numbered 'I-XX' in pencil. A fine, rich impression, in warm black ink, with full margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/8 inches), on cream wove paper, in excellent condition. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Featured on page 69 as a full-page illustration in 'Drewes, A Catalog Raisonné of His Prints', Ingrid Rose, 1984. Reproduced in 'American Master Prints from the Betty and Douglas Duffy Collection', the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., 1987. Impressions of this work are in permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Painter, printmaker, and art teacher, Werner Drewes (1899–1985) was among the founding fathers of American abstraction. A student at the famed Bauhaus in the 1920s, he studied under Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Wassily Kandinsky. Following his emigration to the United States in 1930, he was instrumental in introducing modernist Bauhaus concepts and esthetics to America. Drewes’ boldly dynamic and emotionally expressive work, which encompassed both nonobjective and figurative genres, brought him critical acclaim and numerous gallery and institutional exhibitions throughout his artistic career. Drewes believed that art provided an avenue to understanding the mysteries of life: “ What is the mystery underlying the Architecture of our Universe? What are the laws which create the pattern of the frost which forms on our windows? What causes the stars to stay in their orbit? What is it which creates joy and sorrow within us?... All these are problems belonging to the world we live in and which should concern the artist, as well as those problems of sunlight or the growth of a tree. But art is also a world with its own laws, whether they underlie a painting of realistic or abstract forms. To create new universes within these laws and to fill them with the experiences of our life is our task. When they convincingly reflect the wisdom or struggle of the soul, a work of art is born.” Drewes graphic work is held in numerous major museums worldwide, including: Bauhaus-Archiv (Germany), Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Art Institute of Chicago, Wissenschaftliche-Kulturelles Zentrum (Bauhaus Dessau, Germany), Israel Museum Collection (Jerusalem), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, Staastsgalerie Stuttgart (Germany), Whitney Museum of Art.
  • Creator:
    Werner Drewes (1899-1985, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1935
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 8.88 in (22.56 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Myrtle Beach, SC
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 1004001stDibs: LU53233865232
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