Meditation
1920
Medium
linocut in black on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 6.67 × 2.86 cm (2 5/8 × 1 1/8 in.) sheet: 25.4 × 16.51 cm (10 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Jack and Margrit Vanderryn
Accession Number
2015.114.17
Art Historical Context
**Meditation** (1920) by Max is a striking linocut in black ink on laid paper, capturing a moment of quiet introspection in a compact image measuring just 6.67 × 2.86 cm. The larger sheet (25.4 × 16.51 cm) frames this intimate print, now housed in the National Gallery Art's Department of Prints (CG-W) as a generous gift from Jack and Margrit Vanderryn. Created during the vibrant post-World War I era, when American modernism was blossoming, Weber—a Russian-born artist who became a key figure in New York's avant-garde—employed the linocut technique to distill contemplative forms with bold, simpl...
About the Artist
Max Weber
Max Weber (1881–1961), born in Białystok in the Russian Empire (now Poland) to Orthodox Jewish parents, immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, at age ten with his family, joining his tailor father.) There, he pursued art studies at the Pratt Institute under Arthur Wesley Dow, an innovative teacher who emphasized expression and form over traditional narrative, drawing from Japanese art and Paul Gauguin....