Wilfred Zogbaum

Wilfred (Wilfrid) Zogbaum was a founding member of the American Abstract Artist Exhibition in New York. Wilfrid Zogbaum was born in Newport, Rhode Island and never for the rest of his life was far from the sea. As a child, Zogbaum learned sailing from his father who had been an Admiral in the Navy. His grandfather, Rufus Zogbaum, had been an illustrator-artist who covered the Spanish-American War, travelling with the warships. There is no doubt that his grandfather had a big influence on him. Zog as his friends and family referred to him was surrounded by talk of the sea and nature. Zogbaum studied art at the Yale University, followed by the Hoffman School of Fine Arts. When he changed to sculpture from painting and drawing, that same need to master the medium, to understand the material, the machines so necessary in working with metal became a true passion for Zogbaum.

Zogbaum later moved to the Hamptons where he was friends with Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. Zogbaum was an expert in metal form, abstract sculptures and many of his works' titles generally relate to the sea or its inhabitants. Zog showed at Staempfli, Obelisk, Grace Borgenicht, Stable Gallery and Dilexi in the 1950s being a key avant-garde sculptor. Zogbaum's sculptors are in many important collections across the globe including the Whitney, MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MUSMA, Michael Tapie, Smithsonian and Carnegie Museum of Art.