1930s American Impressionist Portrait Painting of "Pearl" Monhegan Island Maine Coast By Abraham Jacob Bogdanove

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A large & charming oil on canvas portrait of the artist's wife "Pearl" circa 1920, by the celebrated Salamagundi member … Read more A large & charming oil on canvas portrait of the artist's wife "Pearl" circa 1920, by the celebrated Salamagundi member & American-Belarusian artist, Abraham Jacob Bogdanove (1886–1946), the painting circa 1930.
The painting is in an impressionistic style with abstract elements, this is one of a pair of portraits by Bogdanove, the other is a self portrait of the artist painted on Monhegan Island at the same time, also currently listed for sale. This painting depicts the artist's wife "Pearl" seated on Monhegan island with the island's distinctive rocks in the background, with the waves crashing down on them. Pearl sits with her hands folded together in the shadow of the jagged cliff walls of Monhegan Island. Waves of the Atlantic crash behind her as she softly gazes at the viewer. The painting is signed 'A.J. Bogdanove' in red in the lower right and is housed in the original gilt frame, with a plaque inscribed with the artist's name & dates.
To the verso are previous gallery labels, including the well respected New York Spanierman Gallery, who sold much of Bogdanove's work.
The painting is in excellent condition and is ready to hang on your wall, please see the listing for the companion portrait.

This painting by one of Maine's most celebrated painters, who also painted both murals and plein-air scenes of the Monhegan Island coast. Bogdanove was deeply connected to the art scene of Monhegan Island, renowned as one of America's oldest and most influential artist colonies. Bogdanove painted landscapes and seascapes with a rugged, powerful, and dramatic representation of the rocky cliffsides and powerful Atlantic waves crashing into themselves.
Abraham Jacob Bogdanove was born in was born in Minsk, in the former Russian Empire region now the sovereign nation of Belarus, in 1888. At 12 years of age he moved to New York City, where he studied at Cooper Union, then the National Academy of Design, and finally at Columbia University School of Architecture. At the age of 24 he received his first significant commission to paint a mural, for the Fleischman Baths at 42nd St. and 6th Avenue New York City. He was stiffed on payment because Fleischman stated that Bogdanove's Diana in the Bath was not beautiful enough. The following year, Bogdanove received his second mural commission for the Hebrew Sheltering and Guardian Society, followed by many other murals across the city.
Bogdanove first visited Maine in 1915, first visited the artist colony at Monhegan Island in 1918, and then following the purchase of a house there in 1920 he visited Monhegan every year until his death in 1946. He was an established presence on the island and producing the majority of his body of work there, as a series of landscapes and seascapes that had a reputation for capturing the powerful dramatic effects of weather on the ocean and land. Bogdanove has been characterized as an heir to Winslow Homer.
Of his work on Monhegan, described as "rugged, colorful, and forceful", Bogdanove said in an interview in 1936, "There are a number of reasons why I prefer Monhegan to all other places on the Atlantic coast.... The cliffs are so bold and precipitous and the studies offered by the island shore so inexhaustible. The climate suits me. Perhaps because it is more like that of Russia, where my ancestors lived." In an interview in 1945, he explained, "I have painted the Gaspe, the cliffs of Cornwall, the Riviera, but there's a magnetic force in these rocks here, I believe, which brings us back again and again."
From the time Bogdanove was in his early twenties until just shortly before his death, the artist taught art at schools in New York City. The longest tenure was with Townsend Harris High School, of the College of the City of New York.
After his death, he was the subject of an exhibition at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland Maine in 1957, then at the College of the City of New York in 1961, and most recently in three exhibits at New York's Spanierman Gallery between 1997 and 2000.
Bogdanove has left a legacy of strong will and skill, capturing the power of the forces of nature and the splendor of the powerful Atlantic coast. His honed talent speaks for itself, the canvas itself presenting as a window into the sea spraying waters of the northeast American coast. A.J. Bogdanove passed away in August, 1946 in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, leaving behind a strong body of work both in fine art museums & private collections.
Dimensions at sight are 30" in width and 36" in height. See less