John Von Wicht (1888–1970) studied at the Private Art School of the Grand Duke of Hesse and at the Royal School for Fine and Applied Arts in Berlin, later apprenticing in a painting and decorative design shop. After settling in New York in 1923, he worked for a lithography company and later for a firm producing stained glass and mosaics, experiences that informed his understanding of design, form, and method, which would later shape his abstract paintings. With growing skill and connections, von Wicht soon opened his own studio in Brooklyn, with an office in Manhattan to secure private commissions.

As a muralist in the 1930s, von Wicht’s work ranged from abstract to semi-abstract, occasionally showing cubist influences. He executed murals for WNYC radio and the New York World’s Fair, while also exhibiting widely during the mid- to late 1930s. In 1941, he mounted an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, solidifying his reputation as a significant abstract painter.

Throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, von Wicht continued to exhibit both solo and in group shows nationally and in New York. He was invited to join prominent organizations including the American Abstract Artists and the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. Von Wicht passed away from pneumonia on January 20, 1970, leaving behind a body of work that reflects his lifelong engagement with abstraction, design, and modernist principles.