He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA, and from Yale University with an MFA in Painting and in Sculpture (1955), where he studied with sculptor José de Rivera[6] and Josef Albers.

[9] Represented by Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa's influential Galerie Chalette[10] in New York, his work attracted the attention of Joseph Hirshhorn, who began to actively collect Engman's sculptures.

The physical effort required to complete Triune brought a check to Engman's artistic drive to "dominate the materials.

He retreated from the world of large-scale commissions, and began work on a series of more intimately-scaled pieces that did not require a workshop of helpers to complete.

The sinuous curves of Engman's work are derived from the artist’s explorations of minimal surfaces to generate sculptural form.