Stow Wengenroth (1906–1978) was an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

, born in 1906 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Wengenroth was once called "America's greatest living artist working in black and white" by the American realist painter

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the middle 20th century. Though he considered himself to be an "abstractionist," Wyeth was primarily a realis ...

, and he is generally considered to be one of the finest American lithographers of the twentieth century. He studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

under

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American Painting, painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New Yor ...

and John Fabian Carlson from 1923 to 1927, then at the

Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1922 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. It closed in 1944. History The school was established and run by the Gra ...

under Wayman Adams. Wengenroth was elected a member of the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

(renamed the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

) in 1942 and was also a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and the Prairie Printmakers. He was elected an Associate of the prestigious

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

in 1938, and a full Academician in 1941. Wengenroth was also the author of several influential books on lithography. Wengenroth's

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

are found in most major American collections, including the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, and

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. During his career, Wengenroth became well known for his detailed depictions of the seascapes and landscapes of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and, in particular,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. As an artist, he eschewed colour in his lithographs but rather focused on shadow, light, and form to transmit detail and dimension. While his urban scenes of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

environs are especially coveted by the current market, Wengenroth was most adept at creating sincere yet vivid simulacra of the New England

littoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely i ...

and interior. Lithographer and painter Elizabeth Saltonstall was one of his students.

Selected exhibitions

* 1998: ''Mary Ryan Gallery'', New York: ''Black & White: Four Decades of Prints, 1905-1947'' * 1996: ''Kennedy Galleries'', New York: ''American Master Prints''

Selected collections

* ''Library of Congress'', Washington * ''Smithsonian American Art Museum'', Washington * ''Whitney Museum of American Art'', New York * ''Metropolitan Museum of Art'', New York * ''Fogg Museum of Art'', Cambridge * ''Los Angeles County Museum of Art'' * ''Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts'' * ''Carnegie Institute'', Pittsburgh * ''Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'' * ''Boston Public Library''

Personal life

Wengenroth's first wife was the author and doll maker Edith Flack Ackley.

External links

Artcyclopedia

(Stow Wengenroth collection)

(Stow Wengenroth collection)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wengenroth, Stow 1906 births 1978 deaths American landscape artists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Art Students League of New York alumni National Academy of Design members 20th-century American lithographers

Selected exhibitions

Selected collections

Personal life

External links

Further reading

References