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This etching is one of nine modernist views of Chicago, which date early in Drewes’ career and are his most desirable prints. Drewes was a German-born artist who became a pivotal figure in American abstraction. Having studied at the Bauhaus under prominent figures like Paul Klee, Kandinsky, Itten, Moholy-Nagy and Feininger, he played a key role in bringing Bauhaus principles to the U.S., especially through his teaching and printmaking.
After extensive travels—through Europe, South America, Asia, and Siberia—he settled in the U.S. in 1930. There, Drewes became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group and served on the Works Progress Administration’s arts initiatives. He taught design at Washington University in St. Louis until 1965. Drewes was a prolific printmaker, producing over 730 prints, including etchings, lithographs and woodcuts.
A copy of this print is included in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
