WERNER DREWES
Paintings and Works on Paper - 1930s through 1980s
September 16 through October 28, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 3 to 6pm
WERNER DREWES’ strong modernist
roots evolved at the Bauhaus under the tutelage of modern masters
Lyonel Feininger, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul
Klee. Drewes emigrated to the United States in 1930. In
1936, he became a founding member (along with Josef Albers, Burgoyne
Diller, David Smith, Vaclav Vytlacil and others) of the American
Abstract Artists group, the revolutionary group of artists that played
a pivotal role in the evolution and acceptance of non-objective art in
the United States.
Drewes creativity is revealed
in his work over next fifty five years - and through his teaching at
the New Bauhaus, Chicago in the 1930s/40s and at Washington University
in St.Louis from the 1940s until retirement in l965. As can be seen in
this exhibition, retirement did not stop the flow of his art!
Regardless of medium or
technique, Drewes was inspired by his heritage - expressionism, Bauhaus
discipline, aesthetic inventiveness and personal intuition. From his
beginnings, bold figuration, dramatic geometric forms, rhythmic
abstractions and brilliant palettes combine to give evidence of a
personal vocabulary in his woodcuts, oils and other techniques.
Drawings recorded ideas throughout his career but he also, frequently,
made wonderful collages as 'studies'. Many of these inventive
compositions can be traced to subsquent works.
Drewes was working until the
month he died. Watercolors, drawings, collages, prints and
paintings in this exhibition span an illustrious career. We begin
with works from the early 1930s, including the watercolor Abstract I and the woodcut Composition X: Dynamic Rhythm
(among the first abstract prints created by Drewes). Also
included are works from the 1970s and 1980s, such as the paintings Winter Solstice and Iceage - both of which are
exhibited alongside related works on paper.
Werner Drewes’ works in
all media are in museums and private collections throughout the world.
Click
here to view images from the exhibition
Click
here to view biographical information
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