Aaron Bohrod Art
American, 1907-1992
Aaron Bohrod's work has not been limited to one style or medium. Initially recognized as a regionalist painter of American scenes, particularly of his native Chicago, Bohrod later devoted himself to detailed still-life paintings rendered in the trompe l'oeil style. He also worked for several years in ceramics and wrote a book on pottery.
Born in 1907, Bohrod began his studies at Chicago's Crane Junior College in 1925, and two years later enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago. But it was at the Art Students League in New York City, from 1930 to 1932, that he studied under the man believed to be his most significant early influence, John Sloan. Sloan's romantic realism is reflected in the many depictions of Chicago life, which comprised most of Bohrod's early work.
Under Sloan's tutelage, Bohrod came to subscribe to the belief that painters should find the subjects of their art in the immediate world around them. These paintings emphasized architecture unique to north Chicago and featured Chicagoans engaged in such everyday activities as working, playing or going to the theatre. The romantic aspect was conveyed by the use of misty colors, and the realism by attention to detail.
In 1936, Bohrod won the Guggenheim Fellowship award in creative painting. It enabled him to travel the United States, producing similar regionalist paintings on a much broader range of subjects. Nevertheless, most of his early work centered on Chicago and the urban Midwest.
In 1943, Bohrod was commissioned by editors of Life magazine to cover the battlefronts as a war correspondent and artist. Three years later, Bohrod was invited to become the Artist in Residence at the University of Wisconsin, a position that became vacant with the unexpected death of John Steuart Curry. He would remain at the University from 1948 to his retirement in 1973.
Then, quite atypically, fantasy started to appear in his work. Elements of Surrealism, supposedly inspired by his concurrent involvement in ceramics with F. Carlton Ball, began influencing his landscapes. By 1953, Bohrod had completely ceased painting landscapes, turning instead to often symbolic still-life subjects. He abandoned his earlier romantic realism to paint in the luminous trompe l'oeil tradition of William Harnett. Bohrod continued to produce these meticulously crafted fantasies exclusively. While in his position at the University of Wisconsin, Bohrod painted covers for Time magazine and authored two books, A Pottery Sketch-book (1959) and A Decade of Still Life (1966), in which are produced many of his trompe l'oeil paintings.(Biography provided by Helicline Fine Art)
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Artist: Aaron Bohrod
Watercolor Painting Road Signs, Load Limit, Aaron Bohrod WPA Artist Chicago Art
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Surfside, FL
Aaron Bohrod (1907-1992)
Listed Wisconsin WPA American Artist
Original Watercolor Painting
Hand signed "Load Limit Bridge"
Dimensions: 24"x18" inches
Aaron Bohrod (1907 – 1992) wa...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Watercolor
"Doll in Mirror," Aaron Bohrod, Trompe L'oeil Still Life, WPA Wisconsin Artist
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Larchmont, NY
Aaron Bohrod
Doll in Mirror
Signed lower left
Oil on gesso board
10 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches
Provenance:
The artist
Hammer Galleries, New York
Private Collection, West Bloomfield, Michiga...
Category
1960s Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Pittsburgh Alleyway
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pittsburgh Alleyway, c. 1946, oil on gouache on paper on “prestwood” (Masonite), 9 x 12 inches, signed lower middle, Bohrod’s original label verso from his gallery at 4811 Tonyawatha...
Category
1940s American Modern Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Aaron Bohrod "Daughters of Eve", original oil on gesso
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Glenview, IL
"Daughters of Eve" by American painter Aaron Bohrod (1907 - 1992) is an original oil painting on gesso board created sometime around the late 50's, and depicts a still life with pict...
Category
1950s Surrealist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Oil
"Industrial Cityscape, Chicago" WPA Modernism Mid-Century Cityscape 20th Century
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in New York, NY
Midwestern Chicago artist Aaron Bohrod painted in 1931 this modernist industrial cityscape during the WPA of the 20th Century.
Aaron Bohrod (American 1907 – 1992), Industrial Citysc...
Category
1930s American Modern Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Standing Female Nude
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Standing Female Nude
Ink on paper
Signed by the artist with his initials lower left "AB"
Related to numerous drawings of the same model illustr...
Category
1950s American Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Ink
Standing Nude Seen from the Back
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Standing Nude Seen from the Back
Ink on paper, n.d.
Signed in red ink lower right
Sheet size: 11 x 8 3/8 inches
Condition: slight aging at edges of the sheet
Provenance: Warren Shaull
Illustrated: Elliot & Wooden, Aaron Bohrod: Figure Sketches (Dodge City...
Category
1950s Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Ink
Maid in Japan
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Miami, FL
Oil on board
Signed lower left
Provenance: Everett Oehlschlaeger Galleries, Chicago, IL
Exhibited: Everett Oehlschlaeger Galleries, Chicago, IL
Ten portraits of plastic toys attach...
Category
1970s American Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Oil, Inkjet
Maid in Japan
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Miami, FL
Oil on board
Signed lower left
Provenance: Everett Oehlschlaeger Galleries, Chicago, IL
Exhibited: Everett Oehlschlaeger Galleries, Chicago, IL
Ten portraits of plastic toys attach...
Category
1970s American Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Oil
"Walnut Shells" Acrylic Trompe-L'Oeil by Aaron Bohrod
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Bristol, CT
Original trompe-l'oeil signed Aaron Bohrod (LL) entitled 'Walnut Shells'
Provenance: The Milch Galleries #21 East 67th Street (label affixed to verso)
in acrylic on masonite board
Image Sz: 7"H x 5"W
Artist Bio:
Aaron Bohrod (1907-1992) was born in Chicago and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1926–28, as a full-time student, and in New York City, where he studied at the Art Student’s League from 1929–32. After his return to Chicago in 1932, Bohrod sought out a wide range of urban locales for his paintings: “backyards and alleys and garage eaves and rooftops, and the parks, and the setting for the life of everyday people.” Bohrod quickly established himself as a vital member of the city’s artistic community. He gathered with fellow residents and artists Francis Chapin and Davenport Griffen for sketching classes and lively discussions, embraced the “Chicago School’s” living connection to its audience, belonged to the Chicago Society of Artists, and maintained an active local exhibition schedule. He continued to take occasional courses at SAIC until 1937, and taught there briefly in the early 1940s.
Street in Oklahoma (1932) and Burlesque at the Rialto (1935) are typical of the artist’s work from this period, and reveal his engagement both thematically and stylistically with American scene painting. Throughout the Depression, Bohrod managed to support himself as a full-time artist. He won three commissions for WPA murals for post offices in Clinton, Galesburg, and Vandalia, Illinois. The artist’s professional achievements in the 1930s also included two consecutive Guggenheim Fellowships (1936–37 and 1937–38), which funded trips to the West, and the South and Northeast, respectively. In 1939, Bohrod was accepted into the Associated American Artists group, whose membership included such luminaries as Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, and Thomas Hart Benton. This New York-based gallery marketed art to the middle classes and employed artists to produce affordable lithographs during the Depression. In 1941 Bohrod was appointed a visiting artist at Southern Illinois University, a post that he vacated in 1942 to serve in the Army War Art Unit...
Category
Mid-20th Century Other Art Style Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Masonite, Acrylic, Board
Nude Reclining on a Mat
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Nude Reclining on a Mat
Ink on paper, n.d.
Signed in red ink lower right
Same model used in Elliott & Wooden pages 198 and 199
Condition: Excellent
Provenance: Estate of the Artist
...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Ink
City Park, Winter
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Fairlawn, OH
City Park, Winter
Lithograph, c. 1947
Signed in pencil lower right (see photo)
Published by Associated American Artists
Printed by George C. Miller, New York
Edition: c. 250
In the B...
Category
1940s American Realist Aaron Bohrod Art
Materials
Lithograph
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Aaron Bohrod art for sale on 1stDibs
Find wide variety of authentic Aaron Bohrod art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Aaron Bohrod in paint, oil paint, board and more. Much of this artist's original work was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Surrealist style. Not every interior allows for large Aaron Bohrod art, so small editions measuring 8.25 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Adrienne Stein, Edward Minoff and Nick Patten. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $900 and tops out at $18,500, while the average work can sell for $6,700.