Josef Mangold, who had attended the arts and crafts schools in Cologne and Berlin, but was otherwise self-taught, especially as a painter, left behind a relatively small oeuvre. He created still lifes, nudes by the window, mostly landscapes, which best suited his lyrical temperament.

Mangold was a member of the “Rhenish Secession” (originated in 1928 from the association Das Junge Rheinland and other modern artist groups; dissolved under National Socialism in 1938).