biography of Aaron BOHROD (1907-1992)

Birth place: Chicago, IL

Death place: Madison, WI

Addresses: Chicago, IL, 1930-42; Madison, WI, 1948-92

Profession: Painter, educator

Studied: Crane Jr. College, Chicago; AIC, 1927; ASL, 1930-32, with John Sloan; Boardman Robinson; K.H. Miller; Charles Locke; Richard Lahey; Todros Geller.

Exhibited: WMAA; AIC (Int. Watercolor Exhibits, 1932-40), 1933-35 (prizes), 1937 (First Logan prize), 1945 (prize); Frank Rehn Gal., 1935 (solo); CI, 1936-49 (1939, prize); PAFA, 1938-45, 1950, 1958, 1960, 1966; Assoc. Am. Artists, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1955; GGE, 1939 (prize); Calif. WCS, 1940 (prize); AV, MMA, 1942 (prize); Corcoran Gal., 1939-53 (1943, Clark prize & silver med.); NAD, 1953-72; Milch Gal., NY, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1965; Madison (WI) Art Center, 1966 (retrospective); Irving Gal., Milwaukee, 1968; Hammer Gal., NY, 1968; Danenberg Gal., 1971; Oehlschlaeger Gal., Chicago, 1976; Brooks Mem. Art Gal., Memphis, 1975 (retrospective); Salons of Am. Awards: F., Guggenheim Fnd., 1936.

Member: NA

Work: AIC; CGA; MMA; WMAA; BM; BMA; PAFA; St. Lawrence Univ., NY; Mus. FA, Springfield, MA; New Britain Inst. AM, Conn.; Davenport Muni. Gal., Iowa; MacNider Mus., Mason City, Iowa; Madison Art Center, Wisc.; Univ. of Wisc., Madison; Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie; McNay Inst., San Antonio, TX; Univ. of Arizona, Phoenix; Norton Gal., West Palm Beach, FL; Swope Gal. Art; Walker Art Center; Butler AI; Telfair Acad. Art; Cranbrook Acad Art; Philippines Mus. Art, Manila; murals, USPOs, Vandalia, Clinton, Galesburg, all in Illinois.

Comments: In the 1930s and 1940s, Bohrod's subjects ranged from urban scenes (of Chicago) to depictions of the fighting at Omaha Beach. He worked as an artist/correspondent during WWII, first for the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the South Pacific, and later for Life Magazine in London. In the late 1940s, and thereafter, his work, though realistically rendered, became infused with an aspect of the fantastic. During the 1950s and 1960s, Bohrod added trompe-l'oeil effects to his work and began producing symbolic, meticulously rendered, still-lifes containing odd assortments and arrangements of objects. Publications: A Pottery Sketch Book (1959); A Decade of Still Life (1966, Univ. Wisconsin Press) Teaching: artist-in-residence, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale, 1941-42; artist-in-residence, Univ. Wisconsin, Madison, 1948-73.

Sources: WW73; WW47; Baigell, Dictionary; Harry Salpeter, "Bohrod: Chicago's Gift to Art," Esquire Magazine (1940); article, Life Magazine (1941); John Lloyd Taylor, Bohrod Retrospective Catalogue (Milwaukee Art Center, 1966); American Scene Painting and Sculpture, 57 (w/repro.); 300 Years of American Art, 925.