biography of John G. F. VON WICHT (1888-1970)

Birth place: Malente-Holstein, Germany

Death place: Brooklyn, NY

Addresses: Brooklyn, NY (immigrated 1923)

Profession: Painter, graphic artist, designer, craftsperson, sculptor

Studied: private art school of Grand Duke of Hesse, c.1908; Darmstadt-Bauhaus Sch.; Berlin Acad. FA, Germany (printmaking).

Exhibited: BM, 1924-25, 1939, 1943, 1950 (prize), 1951 (purchase), 1955 (prize), 1958 (prize), 1960 & 1964 (purchases); Salons of Am., 1927, 1931, 1934; PS Fed. Bldgs., 1936;WFNY, 1939 (murals); 48 States Comp., 1939; GGE, 1939; WMAA, 1940-67; MMA, 1941; Brooklyn SA, 1945 (prize); AIC, 1947; Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1947-61 (5 times); Berlin Acad. (prizes); Am. Soc. Contemp. Artists (prizes, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1952-54, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1964); PAFA Ann., 1947-68 (7 times; prize 1968); North Shore AA, 1951 (prize); Audubon Artists, 1952-55 (prizes), 1958 (medal); Phila. Pr. Club, 1953 (purchase), 1954 & 1957 (prizes); SAGA, 1954 (prize); Riverside Mus., 1958 & 1964; Boston Art Festival, 1958 (prize); Art USA, 1959; Ford Fnd., 1960 (purchase prize); Artists Gal., NY, 1944 (solo); Univ. Calif., Los Angeles, 1947; Mercer (GA) Univ.; Kleemann Gal., 1946-47; Passedoit Gal., NY, 1950-52, 1954, 1956-58; John Herron AI, 1953; Carl Schurz Mem. Fnd., 1954; Robles Gal., Los Angeles, 1959 (retrospective); Santa Barbara Mus., 1959 (retrospective); Pasadena Mus. Art, 1959; Bertha Schaefer Gal., NY, 1960, 1961-62, 1964; Barcelona, Spain, 1961, Paris, 1959; Liège, 1959; Madrid, 1959; Brussels, 1959; Barcelona, 1960; Galerie Neufville, Paris, 1962; San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1963; traveling exhib., U.S.A., 1963-64 (solo); Galerie Leonhart, Munich, 1964; M. Diamond FA, NYC, 1984

Member: Soc. Des.-Craftsman; NSMP; Scenic Artists Un.; Fed. Mod. P&S; Audubon Artists; Am. Abstract Artists; SAGA; Am. Soc. Contemporary Artists; Inst. Int. des Arts et Lettres.

Work: murals, mosaics, stained glass in many cities of U.S. and Canada, including Carville, LA; Fed. Court House, Knoxville, TN; Court Room Bldg., Dept. Health, NY; Radio Station WNYC, NY; Pennsylvania R.R. Station, Trenton; Christ Church, NY; murals, USPO, Brewton, AL; Nat. Mus., Stockholm; MusÈe Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris; Nat. Gal., Berlin, Germany; MMA; WMAA; LOC; Riverside Mus.; PMA; BMFA; BM; Kansas State College; John Herron AI; CM; de Cordova & Dana Mus.; Univ. Illinois; Bradley Univ.; MoMA; Yale Univ. Gal.; BMA; Chrysler Mus.; Jewish Mus., NY; Liege Mus., Belgium; Museo d'Arte Contemporains, Madrid.

Comments: An abstract painter and printmaker, he was wounded and partially paralyzed during WWI. In 1938, he created WPA murals for WNYC radio station, with Stuart Davis, Byron Browne, and Louis Schanker. In 1954, he was awarded a residency at the MacDowell Colony (NH). Teaching: ASL, 1951, 1952 (summers);John Herron AI, Indianapolis, IN, 1953.

Sources: WW66; WW47; Diamond, Thirty-Five American Modernists p.30; American Abstract Art, 200; Falk, Exh. Record Series.