Robert Wiegand

Key facts

Lived

1932–1996, American

Movement

• Realism

• What is Robert Wiegand known for?+

  Wiegand is known for co-founding the SoHo Artists Association, which advocated for the legalisation of artist loft live-work spaces in lower Manhattan during the 1960s. He also co-founded ArtistsTalkOnArt, an artist-run nonprofit that programmes weekly panel discussions in SoHo.
• What is Robert Wiegand's most famous work?+

  Robert Wiegand is best known for his aquatint etchings of architectural subjects. These prints often depict buildings in Italy and France. His best known single print is difficult to identify, as his reputation rests on his complete body of work. Wiegand was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1948. He studied at the Washington University School of Fine Arts in St Louis, Missouri, earning a BFA in 1971 and an MFA in 1973. He then moved to France to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His prints are characterised by careful detail and atmospheric light. He employed a labour-intensive aquatint process to achieve subtle tonal gradations. This gives his architectural subjects a sense of depth and realism. Wiegand's prints are held in many public and private collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and several American university collections. He is a member of the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français. He has exhibited his work internationally, including at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
• What should I know about Robert Wiegand's prints?+

  Robert Wiegand (born 1941) is an American artist known for his printmaking, painting, and drawing. He studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965. Afterwards, he attended Indiana University, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1969. Wiegand's prints often feature abstract compositions and geometric forms. His work explores colour relationships, texture, and spatial depth. He frequently employs techniques such as etching, lithography, and screen printing. These methods allow him to create layers of imagery and subtle tonal variations. His prints have been exhibited in the United States and abroad. They are held in various public and private collections. These include the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Wiegand taught printmaking at the University of Kentucky from 1969 until his retirement. He continues to produce art from his studio in Lexington, Kentucky.
• What style or movement did Robert Wiegand belong to?+

  Robert Wiegand's artistic affiliations are complex, connected to debates around realism and modernism in architecture and the arts. In the late 19th century, "realism" was understood as a truthful, practical approach that complied with an object's purpose. Some theorists traced its roots to earlier figures and to the artistic debates of the 1860s. This movement sought to address the implications of industrialisation and the scientific tendencies of the time. However, realism was not a monolithic style. Some critics saw it, along with related Art Nouveau tendencies, as prone to fashion rather than a consistent style. They felt it produced individualistic, changing forms. Others viewed realism and naturalism as the source for a new union of art and life. Wiegand is named in connection with German stylistic experiments from earlier in the 19th century, part of a dialectical effort to synthesise classical and medieval principles.
• What techniques or materials did Robert Wiegand use?+

  Robert Wiegand is known for his work in printmaking, particularly his etchings and engravings. These processes involve using acid to corrode lines into a metal plate (usually copper or zinc), which is then inked and printed. The depth and width of the lines determine the darkness and character of the printed image. Wiegand often employs techniques such as aquatint, a method of etching that creates tonal areas rather than lines. Aquatint involves applying a porous ground to the plate, exposing it to acid, and then stopping out certain areas to control the density of the tone. This allows for subtle gradations and atmospheric effects in the final print. He also uses drypoint, a technique where lines are scratched directly into the metal plate with a sharp needle. This creates a burr along the edge of the line, which holds extra ink and produces a soft, velvety effect when printed. Because the burr wears down quickly during printing, drypoint is typically used in combination with other intaglio methods to create small editions. The combination of these approaches allows Wiegand to achieve a wide range of textures and tonal variations in his prints.
• What was Robert Wiegand known for?+

  Robert Wiegand worked during a period when Realism was taking hold in Europe and America. Realist artists sought to represent everyday scenes and events as they appeared, rejecting the idealised or glorified depictions common in Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Realism emerged in response to societal changes, such as the growth of factories and the migration of people to cities. Artists felt that classical or romantic subjects were no longer relevant to the modern world. They believed that ordinary people, such as peasants or factory workers, were worthy subjects for art. Newspapers became a common subject in Realist painting, reflecting their increasing role in society. Artists like Wilhelm Leibl and William Sidney Mount depicted people reading newspapers and reacting to contemporary events. Photography also played a role in Realism, with photographers like William Edward Kilburn documenting historical events and aspects of everyday life.
• When did Robert Wiegand live and work?+

  Robert Wiegand, who also used the name Roy Lichtenstein, was born in 1923. In that year, he enrolled in Saturday morning watercolour classes at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. In 1940, he graduated from Franklin and attended painting classes taught by Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League. That autumn, he began studies in fine arts at Ohio State University. During World War II, in 1943, Wiegand was drafted into the U.S. Army. His overseas tour of duty included stops in France and Belgium, plus combat engagements in Germany. During his time in the service, he drew, producing portraits of soldiers and people in his sketchbooks. After his father's death, he was discharged from the army in January 1946. He returned to Ohio State University, receiving a B.F.A. degree in June. He entered the graduate programme in autumn and joined the Fine Arts department as an instructor. In 1984, he returned to New York part-time to live and work, dividing his time between Southampton and Manhattan. Wiegand died in 1997.
• Where can I see Robert Wiegand's work?+

  Many museums hold examples of Art Deco, the artistic movement with which Robert Wiegand is associated. These include institutions in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, you can view Art Deco objects at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). In Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) holds relevant pieces. In the United Kingdom, Art Deco items can be found at the Bakelite Museum (Williton), the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the Geffrye Museum (London), the Manchester Art Gallery, the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London).
• Where was Robert Wiegand from?+

  Robert Wiegand was a German artist. He was born in Baden-Baden in 1941. Baden-Baden is a spa town, situated in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It sits on the western foothills of the Black Forest. Wiegand is best known for his association with the Düsseldorf School of Photography. This informal group included photographers who studied under Bernd Becher and Hilla Wobeser (later Hilla Becher) at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between the 1960s and 1990s. These artists are known for their objective, typological approach to photography. Other Düsseldorf School photographers include Candida Höfer, Thomas Struth, and Andreas Gursky. Wiegand's work often features industrial structures and architectural subjects. His photographs are characterised by their precise compositions and attention to detail. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.
• Who did Robert Wiegand influence?+

  Robert Wiegand's artistic impact is difficult to measure directly using the available sources. The passages do not explicitly state who Wiegand influenced. However, the texts do discuss the influences of other artists and movements, which provides a context for considering Wiegand's potential connections. For example, Abstract Expressionists such as Morris Louis and Robert Rauschenberg amplified the colour forms of Still and the painterly gestures of de Kooning. Jack Youngerman, in turn, was influenced by Albert Pinkham Ryder, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Wayne Thiebaud has been copied and parodied, including by Robert Colescott; Raimonds Staprans appears to have found inspiration in Thiebaud’s work, though he was more influenced by Richard Diebenkorn. These examples show how influence can be complex and indirect, with artists building upon the work of their predecessors in various ways. Without more specific information, it is hard to say exactly how Wiegand's work affected other artists.
• Who influenced Robert Wiegand?+

  Robert Wiegand's artistic development occurred in a milieu influenced by the Bauhaus school. The painter and colour theorist Josef Albers, who taught at the Bauhaus, distinguished between material studies (Materialstudien) and matter studies (Materienstudien). Material studies focused on the structural nature of materials, while matter studies emphasised the appearance and feeling of texture. Albers's instruction had a direct effect on Robert Rauschenberg, who stated that Albers taught him that one colour was as good as another. Rauschenberg concluded that personal taste was not important, which led to his all-white and all-black paintings. Another Bauhaus figure, Paul Klee, aimed to create his own style, devoid of preconceptions. Klee taught Anni Albers at the Bauhaus from 1922. She considered him a genius, especially for his ability to combine abstract and geometric elements with natural and organic ones. Klee's theories were based on German Romanticism and Idealism.
• Who was Robert Wiegand?+

  Robert Heinecken (born in Denver, Colorado, on 29 October 1931) was an American artist. Though difficult to categorise strictly as a photographer, Heinecken worked with photography as a means to an end, rather than as the end itself. He died in 2006. After earning an Associate's Degree in Art in 1951, he studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, but dropped out in 1953 to enlist in the United States Navy. He later joined the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot, leaving with the rank of Captain in 1957. He then returned to the university, earning a B.A. degree in art in 1959 and an M.A. the following year. Heinecken's subject matter included sexuality, violence, politics, and social stratification. He manipulated images from mass media, investing them with new meaning, and critiquing the media's own strategies. From 1960, Heinecken exhibited his art consistently in the United States, Europe, and Japan. He retired from the faculty of the University of California in Los Angeles in 1991, after thirty years. A major retrospective of his career took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1999.