Early Work

 

In 1954, Wengenroth was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Germany and attended the Akademie der Bildende Künste, München where he was close to members of Der Zen Gruppe and was instrumental in arranging that group’s first American exhibition.

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He traveled widely through Germany and Europe, and within the tradition of modern art, found Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism to be of primary importance - presenting genuinely new ideas about art and about how to express reality.

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When he returned to teaching in Ohio, his interests in Existentialism, Freudian psychology, Jungian "archetypes", and calligraphy fused in a series of experimental abstract paintings.

In 1962-63 Wengenroth was on leave from teaching, and moved to New York City, and responded to the growing prominence of Pop Art, Conceptualism, and Minimalism by working with plexiglass and mirrors to create wall pieces that interacted with the environment and with the viewer.