Background
She was the daughter of Inez Royce and Karl Henry von Wiegand, the German-born journalist. Von Wiegand was born in Chicago and grew up in Arizona, San Francisco, and Berlin, where she lived for three years as a teenager.
journalist painter art historian
She was the daughter of Inez Royce and Karl Henry von Wiegand, the German-born journalist. Von Wiegand was born in Chicago and grew up in Arizona, San Francisco, and Berlin, where she lived for three years as a teenager.
When she returned to the United States, she attended Barnard College for a year and then transferred to Columbia University to study journalism, theater, and art history.
She did not complete her bachelor"s degree and thought she may become a playwright. At this time she also began to paint landscapes. In 1929, she traveled to Moscow where she became a correspondent for the Universal Service of the Hearst Press.
She continued her work as an art critic, and in spring 1941 interviewed the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.
She became close friends with Mondrian, who influenced her to start creating abstract art
She became an associate member of the American Abstract Artists in 1941, exhibiting with them from 1948.