Borislav Bogdanovich was born into a prominent family in the Vojvodina area of Serbia.  During the 20’s and 30’s he was a member of “The Twelve” prominent painters in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and exhibited frequently in international shows throughout Europe. His art was influenced not only by the Impressionists and Bonnard, with whom he was often exhibited with, but also by his country’s own visual traditions - the great Byzantine Frescoes in the monasteries.

Shortly before World War II broke out, Bogdanovich and his young wife Herma left Europe for America. In New York, Bogdanovich began to concentrate in his work on what was emotionally closest to him: his own family.  Herma, and his children Peter and Anna, became the subjects of many of his best portraits. Peter would become a celebrated film director and Anna is an Emmy-nominated producer and songwriter.

Bogdanovich’s other fascination throughout the New York period lay with still lifes.  In these the tender tones of his Yugoslav painting gave way progressively to strong, even provocative, contrasts of color and more distinct, rounded volumes. 

He made his first public appearance in the US in 1940, participating in a group show at the Nierendorf Gallery entitled The Role of Color in Modern Art, in company with Nolde, Kandinsky, Marc, Miro, Klee, and others. Since then he had four one-man shows and participated further in many group shows in private galleries as well as at the Whitney Museum, the Chicago Art Institute and the Corcoran Biennials in Washington.

An especially successful show of Bogdanovich’s work in Arizona drew the painter out there for a visit.  The desert landscape and the celebrated climate persuaded him to move there.  Native American life became his new, dominant subject, and a commission for four huge mural paintings gave him an ideal opportunity to express this new fascination.  While completing the last monumental mural, “The Buffalo Hunt", Bogdanovich fell and died shortly afterwards.

After his death, the Bogdanovich family obtained a series of full-scale retrospectives and exhibitions across Europe, including the Museum of Modern Art in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Gallerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris, Galerie Burdeke in Zurich, Switzerland, Von Abercron Galleries in Cologne and Munich, Germany, Aberbach Gallery, London, England and others. After an enormously successful show in London, exhibitions were planned for Milan, Italy, subsequently launching a major promotional campaign in the United States.  However, due to several subsequent tragic deaths in the family, the promotion was suspended. 

Many private International and American collectors have acquired paintings by Borislav Bogdanovich including the estates of Rush H. Kress, and Walter R. Bimson, and celebrities such as actress Cybill Shepherd and Zinka Milanov, world renowned Metropolitan Opera soprano.  

Several years ago, the artist’s daughter Anna Thea Bogdanovich actively resumed the promotion of the collection and discovered a new cache of fine works. After a hiatus of over thirty years, a premiere exhibition at Trigg Ison Fine Art in the United States featured this undiscovered work of a dedicated, post-impressionist modern artist who was once exhibited alongside the masters in New York City.

Borislav Bogdanovich: Impressions

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldBeatMediaCom#p/a/u/2/vgRCboPTg9c

Interviews with Gallerist Trigg Ison, Film Director Peter Bogdanovich, Composer Anna Bogdanovich,

Film Director Henry Jaglom

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldBeatMediaCom#p/a/f/0/UzSMYlDun8A

For additional information please contact Anna Thea Bogdanovich at annatheab@aol.com

Artworks by Borislav Bogdanovich and Biographical Photographs

© The Bogdanovich Collection and Anna Thea Bogdanovich   

All Rights Reserved