A painter, printmaker and professor of art. Drewes is German-born, but a world traveler. He studied art at the Bauhaus beginning in 1921, but moved to New York City in 1930 due to the restrictive regime of Hitler in Germany. He was a key member in the formation of the American Abstract Artists group alongside artists such as Mondrian and Feininger. Drewes taught at Columbia Universtiy and Washington Universtiy in St. Louis. He aided in the design of the 1939 Worlds Fair building, and has had shows in the Museum of Modern Art, the Kleeman Gallery, and more.