Werner Drewes

American, 1899 - 1985


Werner Drewes was born in Niederlausitz, Germany in 1899. He served in WWI and then studied architecture and design in Berlin and Stuttgart. In 1921, he began studying with Paul Klee in Weimar at the Bauhaus. After a period of world travel, he returned to the Bauhaus in Dessau to continue his studies with Klee. At this time, he also studied with the noted avant-garde painter, Wassily Kandinsky. In 1930, Drewes moved to New York where he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum. He became a U.S. citizen in 1936. In 1940, he was named Director of the WPA’s Graphic Arts Division. In 1945, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy asked Drewes to come to Chicago to teach at the New Bauhaus. From 1946 until his retirement in 1965, he became a revered instructor at the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Drewes exhibited widely at most of the major national American museum venues including the Annual Exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Carnegie Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His artwork can be found in such major museum collections as the Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. Drewes died in Reston, VA in 1985.

  • Easter Island, 1969
    Oil on canvas board
    10 x 14 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.

    #15330
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on canvas board
    9 x 12 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #8808
  • Outlook Into The Future, 1984
    Oil on paper
    6 1/2 x 7 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower right; numbered lower left; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.

    #15339
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on vellum
    6 x 7 1/2 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #15354
  • Untitled (Irises), ca. 1955
    Oil on vellum
    8 x 6 1/4 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #15353
  • Untitled
    Oil on vellum
    5 1/4 x 3 3/4 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #15357
  • Untitled (Orchids)
    Oil on paper
    8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #8803
  • Untitled (Still Life), 1977
    Oil on vellum
    6 x 5 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right.

    #15352
  • Flower Pots and Pineapple, 1945
    Oil on canvas
    8 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right; titled, numbered, dated and inscribed with artist’s monogram on reverse.

    #4098
  • South to Freebergs, St. Louis, ca. 1956
    Oil on vellum
    8 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower left; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.

    #15355
  • Winter in The Rockies, No. 2, 1959
    Oil on vellum
    9 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches

    Signed Drewes -59-, lower left.

    #15342
  • Wind River , Wyoming, 1956
    Oil on vellum
    8 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches

    Signed and dated Drewes -55-, lower right; titled and numbered on reverse.

    #15344
  • Autumn Landscape, Bucks County, 1978
    Oil on vellum
    6 x 8 3/4 inches

    Signed and dated Drewes '78, lower right; titled, dated and numbered on reverse.

    #15350
  • Untitled , 1969
    Conté crayon on paper
    5 x 8 1/4 inches

    Signed and dated with artist’s monogram lower right; numbered lower left.

    #15335
  • Untitled (Abstraction), 15358
    Oil on paper
    4 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #15358
  • Untitled (Abstraction), 1939
    Oil on canvas
    3 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches

    Signed and dated with artist’s monogram lower right;
    Signed and dated with artist’s monogram on reverse

    #14736
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on vellum
    3 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #15334
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on vellum
    4 1/2 x 6 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #4109
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on vellum
    5 x 7 1/2 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #4101
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    Oil on vellum
    4 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches

    Provenance: Estate of the artist.

    #4104
  • Untitled (View of the Eiffel Tower, Paris), 1955
    Ink on paper
    12 x 9 1/2 inches

    Signed Drewes, lower left; dated lower right.

    #15360

Werner Drewes was born in Niederlausitz, Germany in 1899. He served in WWI and then studied architecture and design in Berlin and Stuttgart. In 1921, he began studying with Paul Klee in Weimar at the Bauhaus. After a period of world travel, he returned to the Bauhaus in Dessau to continue his studies with Klee. At this time, he also studied with the noted avant-garde painter, Wassily Kandinsky. In 1930, Drewes moved to New York where he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum. He became a U.S. citizen in 1936. In 1940, he was named Director of the WPA’s Graphic Arts Division. In 1945, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy asked Drewes to come to Chicago to teach at the New Bauhaus. From 1946 until his retirement in 1965, he became a revered instructor at the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Drewes exhibited widely at most of the major national American museum venues including the Annual Exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Carnegie Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His artwork can be found in such major museum collections as the Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. Drewes died in Reston, VA in 1985.

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