Standing Female Figure
1951-1952
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
woodcut in black on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 4.6 x 10.6 cm (1 13/16 x 4 3/16 in.) sheet: 25.4 x 16.5 cm (10 x 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
1997.128.28
Art Historical Context
Max Weber's *Standing Female Figure* (1–1952) is a striking woodcut in black ink on laid paper, capturing the modernist artist's late-career exploration of form and abstraction. Born in Russia and a key figure in early 20th-century American modernism, Weber drew from Cubism, Expressionism, and African art during his time in New York, associating with pioneers like Alfred Stieglitz. This intimate print, with its compact image measuring just 4.6 × 10.6 cm on a larger 25.4 × 16.5 cm sheet, distills the human figure into bold, carved lines—hallmarks of the woodcut medium. Woodcuts, one of the old...
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....