Agnes Weinrich

Agnes Weinrich was one of the first American artists to make works of art that were modernist, abstract and influenced by the Cubist style. She was also an energetic and effective proponent of modernist art in America, joining with like-minded others to promote experimentation as an alternative to the generally conservative art of their time.

Weinrich was born in 1873 on a prosperous farm in southeast Iowa. Both her father and mother were German immigrants and German was the language spoken at home. Following her mother's death in 1879 she was raised by her father, Christian Weinrich. In 1905, they moved to Chicago, where Agnes studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under John Vanderpoel, Nellie Walker and others. In 1909, Weinrich and Helen returned to Berlin and traveled from there to Munich, where Weinrich studied briefly under Julius Exter and on to Rome, Florence and Venice before returning to Chicago. Weinrich died in 1946.