Artwork of the Week: October 27
A lone figure bundled in a jacket and a hat is illuminated under a single street lamp. He walks in front of a church that stands imposingly on the dark night. Snow sits on the steps of the church and in gnarled branches of the tree in front of it. Aaron Bohrod lived his teenage and young adult years during the Great Depression. Despite the nationwide hardships of the time, he sold paintings to make a modest living. In 1941, Bohrod was accepted as an artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. However, due to the onset of WWII, he wasn’t able to finish his tenure and then served as a war artist. His early work depicted everyday life and cityscapes such as this one until the 1950s when he shifted to a trompe l’oeil style, where a flat surface gives the illusion of looking three-dimensional. Many of Bohrod’s later paintings were extremely meticulous and witty, displaying symbolism and puns.
