Composition II - Window Construction on Window
1934
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
woodcut
Dimensions
image: 29.9 × 23.1 cm (11 3/4 × 9 1/8 in.) sheet: 38 × 30.8 cm (14 15/16 × 12 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams
Accession Number
2008.115.1541
Art Historical Context
**Composition II - Window Construction on Window** (1934) is a captivating woodcut by Werner Drewes, a German-American artist whose work bridged European modernism and American abstraction. Created just four years after Drewes emigrated from Germany to the United States, this print reflects the era's fascination with geometric forms and constructed space, evoking the influence of Bauhaus principles he encountered in his early training. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Reba and Dave Williams Collection, it measures a modest 29.9 × 23.1 cm in its image area, inviting close inspection of i...
About the Artist
Werner Drewes
Werner Drewes (1899–1985), born in the village of Canig, Germany, to Lutheran pastor Georg Drewes, demonstrated early artistic talent at Saldria Gymnasium, excelling in painting and woodblock printing. Drafted into the German army at eighteen, he served on the Western Front during World War I, finding solace in sketching amid the horrors of war. Postwar, Drewes pursued architecture at the Technisc...