Max Weber
'Seated Figure' — American Expressionism
1920

Name: 'Seated Figure' — American Expressionism
Brand: Max Weber
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About the Item

Max Weber, 'Seated Figure", woodcut, edition not stated, 1919-20, Rubenstein 17. Signed in pencil. A fine impression on cream Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (2 to 3 1/8 inches); barely visible toning within a previous mat opening, otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Scarce. Image size 4 13/16 x 2 1/8 inches (122 x 54 mm); sheet size 10 x 6 1/4 inches (254 x 159 mm). Impressions of this work are held in the following public collections: Jewish Museum, Museum of Modern Art (color), National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art (color). ABOUT MAX WEBER'S RELIEF PRINTS "In summary, Weber’s relief prints cannot be called just primitives or cubist forms. No single stylistic term is a satisfactory label. Collectively they suggest some common denominators: independence from academic traditions, interest in the element of design rather optical realism, simplicity and unpretentiousness in execution, craftlike tradition underlying their formulation and the desire to eschew the exactitude and dryness of wood engraving for the imprecision and painterly effect of hand-blocked work. The work was not a conscious effort at naiveté or lack of sophistication; on the contrary it was an attempt to approach the origins of art. "In an age which has seen the machine take the feeling of material from the hands of man, these relief prints describe a spirit of craftsmanship and an originality of abstract design that is unique to Max Weber’s artistic oeuvre, to American art, and to the tradition of relief printing." — Daryl R. Rubenstein, 'Max Weber, A Catalogue Raisonné of His Graphic Work', The University of Chicago Press, 1980. ABOUT THE ARTIST "To fill eternity with the ripest and the sanest expression of our consciousness is the essence as well as the purpose of life.” —Max Weber Max Weber (1881-1961) was born in Bialystok, western Russia. When he was ten, his family came to America, settling in Brooklyn. While enrolled at nearby Pratt Institute from 1898 to 1900, he was a student of the modernist artist and influential teacher Arthur Wesley Dow who advocated for art as a means of self-expression rather than traditional ornament. Weber became an art teacher, first in the public schools in Lynchburg, Virginia, and beginning in 1903 at the Minnesota Normal School in Duluth. Inspired by Dow’s experience, Weber longed to continue his studies in Europe, and after years of prudent saving, he traveled to Paris in 1905. He became a devoted disciple of Paul Cézanne, met Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay, Pablo Picasso, and Leo and Gertrude Stein, and became close friends with Henri Rousseau, later organizing the first exhibition of Rousseau’s work in the United States. A pupil of Matisse in 1908, he was deeply affected by the great artist’s expressive freedom and boldness of color. In recognition of his gifted assimilation of these many influences, one of Weber’s paintings was accepted for exhibition at the prestigious Salon d’Automne in 1907. Weber returned to New York and had his first one-man show at the Haas Gallery in April of 1909, revealing himself as one of America’s earliest modernist artists. Although, as might have been expected, his cutting edge work was mostly misunderstood and widely criticized, the show introduced the artist to Arthur B. Davies, who became a supporter and friend. Weber credited Davies with teaching him lithography in 1916, which enabled him to produce some of the earliest American modernist lithographs. In 1919 Weber created his first group of woodcuts, many of them in color, which were exhibited in 1920 at the Montross Gallery in New York. Davies purchased some of the works, and the esteemed critic and gallery director Carl Zigrosser took other prints to sell at the Weyhe Gallery. That spring, ten of Weber’s poems with ten woodcuts were published in the Yiddish literary journal 'Schriften'. These early figurative abstractions display Weber’s unique melding of Cubist vernacular with primitivist sensibilities and stand among the most avant-garde American prints of the first quarter of the 20th century. Weber’s subsequent group of relief prints represented Jewish themes, reflecting his heritage and spiritual convictions. Some of these works, such as ‘Feast of Passover’, expanded the artist’s repertoire to depict the interplay of multi-figure groupings. Weber’s prints were frequently reproduced in small literary magazines, and his book 'Primitives', published in 1926, integrated his poetry with his woodcuts. Weber’s friendship with William Zorach, and an exhibition of the Provincetown printmakers in 1916, inspired his return to color relief prints. During 1919 and 1920, Weber created some thirty block prints—distinguished by their original use of color applied in a painterly manner, each impression being virtually unique. In 1925 the artist taught at the Art Students League, New York. From 1928 to 1933, he produced thirty-four black ink lithographs, printed from zinc plates. Many of these works demonstrated Weber’s continuing interest in using figurative groupings to explore his Zen-like approach to what he described as “the problem of form, balance of volume and sculpturesque spacial values.” In 1930 Weber began to receive institutional recognition for his innovative work. That year, the Museum of Modern Art mounted a retrospective exhibition of his work, and four years later, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased a painting. This interest was sustained through several important exhibitions in the 1940s and 1950s. Today Weber's work is included in every major American art museum including The Art Institute of Chicago; Cleveland Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art; National Gallery of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Whitney Museum of American Art.

Creator:

Max Weber (1881-1961, American)

Creation Year:

1920

Dimensions:

Height: 4.82 in (12.25 cm)Width: 2.13 in (5.42 cm)

Medium:

Woodcut

Movement & Style:

Expressionist

Period:

1920-1929