Seated Woman
1919-1920
Medium
woodcut in red on gray wove paper
Dimensions
image: 10.8 × 4.92 cm (4 1/4 × 1 15/16 in.) sheet: 17.78 × 12.7 cm (7 × 5 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Jack and Margrit Vanderryn
Accession Number
2015.114.35
Art Historical Context
**Seated Woman**, a delicate woodcut created by Max Weber between 1919 and 1920, invites visitors into the intimate world of early 20th-century modernism. Printed in vibrant red ink on textured gray wove paper, small-scale work—measuring just 10.8 × 4.92 cm for the image—captures poised female figure through bold, carved lines. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's collection (gift of Jack and Margrit Vanderryn), it exemplifies Weber's exploration of simplified forms during a transformative post-World War I era. Max Weber, a Russian-born American artist (1881–1961), bridged European avant-g...
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....