Aaron Bohrod at the University of Wisconsin - Madison
In 1948, Chicago artist Aaron Bohrod arrived in Madison to begin work as the University’s second artist in residence. In an oral history interview with the Smithsonian nearly forty years later, he admits that he took the position with some trepidation. He worried that life on a university campus in a smaller city such as Madison would not offer the same kind of excitement and inspiration he was accustom to. When the University offered him the job, Bohrod was known for his particular brand of social realism that focused on the everyday minutiae of the city. He painted sprawling city scenes of his beloved Chicago and New York. During the Second World War, Bohrod served as an artistic war correspondent in the Pacific Theater for Life Magazine. His paintings in this period portrayed the violence and trauma of combat.
His predecessor at the University, the renowned rural landscape painter John Steuart Curry, left him big shoes to fill. Bohrod soon found himself well integrated into Wisconsin, however. Students adored him and he found himself well-suited to the mentorship role the position as artist in residence afforded him.
In the photo above, Bohrod discusses a painting with University of Wisconsin art students.
Bohrod also interacted with the Wisconsin community outside the University. Like his predecessor, Bohrod took part in the University’s growing rural art outreach programs. Through these programs, Bohrod would occasionally run classes in Wisconsin’s farming communities. He also frequently served as a judge for rural art contests. Here he is discussing art with an aspiring artist in rural Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin landscape became an artistic inspiration for him as well. It was here where he revolutionized his style of painting. While studying a river rock for a landscape painting, he became enamored with the curves and striations on the rock. His artistic style changed almost immediately. He began to produce trompe-l'œil inspired still life pieces, and soon began to experiment with magical realism.
Bohrod’s Hieronymous Detail pays homage to the surrealist Renaissance painter Hieronymous Bosch. In the painting, a ripped corner of a Bosch painting is taped to a surface covered in colorful blobs of paint. Bohrod foregrounds three miniature figurines, each rendered in the careful detail he is known for. Always rooted in the Midwest, Bohrod playfully included a rusting and crumpled can of the Michigan-based brand Bosch beer. .
Though Bohrod moved away from landscapes as early as the 1950′s, he often painted things in the community around him. Like in his 1963 portrait of Conrad Elvehjem. Set to a bright red background, Elvehjem’s torn portrait is one of many items in a collage that Bohrod carefully renders.
Portrait of Conrad Elvehjem, 1963.
Though initially a risky move for the young artist, his residency at the University of Wisconsin allowed him the freedom to experiment and turned out to be a source of new inspiration. He stayed on as the University’s artist in residence until his retirement in 1972. He passed away in 1992 at his home in Monona.
-Emily Lobenstein, Archives Assistant, UW-Madison Archives
For more information about UW campus history, contact [email protected] or visit library.wisc.edu/archives. On, Wisconsin!
