The exhibit titled Richard C. von Hess Foundation Presents Werner Drewes goes on view May 24 and continues through August 17, 2025, at the Huntington Museum of Art. The free opening reception for this exhibit will take place on Sunday, June 29, at 2 p.m. when Karen E. D. Seibert presents The Dr. Lawrence B. & Shirley Gang Memorial Lecture.
Seibert’s presentation will focus on the work of her grandfather, Werner Drewes (American, 1899-1985), born in Canig, Germany, an acclaimed artist and teacher who profoundly influenced the development of abstract art in 20th-century America.
From 1921-1922 and 1927-1928, Werner Drewes studied at the Bauhaus, the innovative German art school founded by architect Walter Gropius, who later designed the Huntington Museum of Art’s 1968 addition and studios. Drewes, who had served on the frontlines in the German military during World War I, recognized the growing threat of Nazi fascism. Like many modernists in Germany, he immigrated to the United States with his wife and children, in 1930, before the onset of World War II.
“Drewes was a founder of the American Abstract Artists group, and he also became associated with the avant-garde printmaking group Atelier 17,” said HMA Senior Curator/Exhibition Designer John Farley. “Everywhere he went, he introduced the concepts and methods he learned from instructors at the Bauhaus, such as Paul Klee, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, and Lyonel Feininger. Drewes refined and shared his ideas throughout a long, successful career as an artist and an inspirational teacher, particularly at Washington University in St. Louis from 1946-1965.”
Though he returned to Europe at times, Drewes embraced his U.S. citizenship and believed strongly in American democracy and independence. “The son of a Lutheran minister and a lifelong student of the natural sciences, he also believed that art offered a unique path to better understand humanity’s place within a large, mysterious world,” Farley said. “Drewes was thoughtful, inquisitive, and energetic. He shifted easily from figurative art to expressionist abstraction and non-objective compositions, but he always sought to capture something essential and exciting about his subject. Drewes was a master printmaker, especially skillful and prolific in woodcut printing, a relief printmaking process. Until the end, he carved the multiple woodblocks that comprise his color woodcuts and rubbed his prints by hand.”
This exhibit of Werner Drewes’s work is organized in partnership with Karen E. D. Seibert, the youngest granddaughter of the artist and curator of Drewes Fine Art. It features woodcuts and paintings generously loaned by Seibert from the Werner Drewes Estate, along with works from the Museum’s permanent collection, including some splendid gifts from Seibert.
This program is presented by the Richard C. von Hess Foundation.
This exhibit is presented with support from the City of Huntington Mayor’s Council for the Arts.
This exhibit is presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.
This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
For more information on exhibits and events at the Huntington Museum of Art, visit hmoa.org or call (304) 529-2701. HMA is fully accessible.
West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Registration does not imply endorsement.