Johanna Riesenbaum was born in 1905 in Mount Healthy, Ohio. Not much is known about her early life as she seemingly never kept a journal or engaged in any kind of writing. Research indicates her father died when she was young and as such she grew up as the middle daughter of a single mother in a family of brothers. In the spring of 1925, she met Marco di Gatti, who took to her as a mentor and father figure. Shortly after his death in 1926, she and di Gatti’s close circle formally established their group as the Pink Acolyte Union, inheriting the title in the process. Riesenbaum’s portfolio consists primarily of woodcut and drypoint prints, combining German expressionist aesthetics with classical reformation-era printmakers.

By the time she turned 18, Riesenbaum had joined the workforce at Queen City Printing Inks factory mixing pigments into their oil-based lithography inks. This experience, as well as the company’s use of commissioned illustrations to advertise their products, inspired her to become a printmaker herself. Riesenbaum quit her position in 1928 when, during the end of her shift, solvents and oils were spilled onto her street clothes. While evidence suggests there were no adverse health effects, it seems she was mentally scarred by the experience as she never worked in lithography or other processes that require heavy use of chemicals and solvents.