Oakland - Shredded Wheat Plant II
1926
Medium
drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 25.1 × 16.5 cm (9 7/8 × 6 1/2 in.) sheet: 35.6 × 25.2 cm (14 × 9 15/16 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
2008.115.1528
Art Historical Context
**Oakland - Shredded Plant II** (1926) is a striking drypoint print by Werner Drewes, a German-born artist who bridged European modernism and American Precisionism. Capturing the geometric forms of an industrial Shredded Wheat factory in Oaklandlikely evoking the monumental factories of Niagara Falls—this work reflects Drewes' fascination with America's machine-age architecture during his first visit to the United States that year. At just 25.1 × 16.5 cm on the plate, its intimate scale invites close inspection of the crisp lines and shadowed volumes that define the plant's towering silos and ...
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...