Morgan Martin
Head of Department
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LYNDA THOMAS
Lot 13
Werner Drewes
(1899-1985)
Expectation of New Events 21 1/8 x 46 1/8 in. (53.7 x 117.2 cm.)
17 November 2022, 14:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$75,975 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our American Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Aaron Anderson
Associate Specialist
Leah Hicks
Sale Coordinator
Werner Drewes (1899-1985)
Expectation of New Events
signed 'Drewes' (lower left) and dated and inscribed with the artist's peace cipher '4 ☮ 4' (lower right) and signed again and inscribed with title (on a preserved section of the original stretcher affixed to the replacement stretcher) and numbered '326' and dated and inscribed with the artist's peace cipher and signed again (on the reverse of the unlined canvas)
oil on canvas
21 1/8 x 46 1/8 in. (53.7 x 117.2 cm.)
Painted in 1944.
signed 'Drewes' (lower left) and dated and inscribed with the artist's peace cipher '4 ☮ 4' (lower right) and signed again and inscribed with title (on a preserved section of the original stretcher affixed to the replacement stretcher) and numbered '326' and dated and inscribed with the artist's peace cipher and signed again (on the reverse of the unlined canvas)
oil on canvas
21 1/8 x 46 1/8 in. (53.7 x 117.2 cm.)
Painted in 1944.
Footnotes
Provenance
Kleemann Galleries, New York.
Bethesda Art Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland.
D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc., New York.
Acquired from the above by the late owner, 2008.
A Statement from the Estate of Werner Drewes accompanies this lot. We are grateful to the family of the artist for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
In a Statement from the Estate of Werner Drewes, the family of the artist notes "At the time of this creation in 1944, Werner Drewes was very active in his career in NYC. He had arrived 14 years earlier, emigrating from Germany in 1930, through Ellis Island with his young family. At the age of 45, Drewes had already taught at the Brooklyn College, become a US Citizen, joined the American Artists Congress & Société Anonyme and became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists. He had finished a few years teaching at Columbia University and finished a stint working as Technical Supervisor/Director of Graphic Arts for the WPA and was currently teaching and taking classes with fellow artists at Stanley Hayter's Atelier 17, that was temporarily located in NYC during the war years. He was actively showing his work at the Guggenheim as well as other local NYC galleries. It is likely that this piece would have been in one of these shows, but we could not confirm this. In this same year, Drewes did another limited series of 10 woodcuts which were assembled into a portfolio entitled Variations on a Dance Motif. The Museum of Modern Art collaborated with this project for distribution. This series is strongly reminiscent of this piece. Expectations remains an extremely strong work of Drewes' illustrating his use of color and shape, exuding motion, all exemplifying Bauhaus principals and the influence of one of his favorite teachers, Wassily Kandinsky." (Estate of Werner Drewes, "Note from the Artist's Family about Expectation of New Events," unpublished statement, July 21, 2022, p. 5.)