biographie de Simeon BRAGUIN (1907-1997)

Birth place: Kharkow, Ukraine

Death place: Essex, CT

Addresses: NYC, 1920s-50s; Essex, CT, 1960s-on

Profession: Painter, designer, illustrator

Studied: ASL with Boardman Robinson

Exhibited: WMAA, 1933; PAFA, 1934; Poindexter Gal., NYC, 1971 (first solo), 1975 (solo of the Essex Harbor Series"); 20th Cent. Fndtn Mus., NYC; Yale Univ. Art Gal., 1991 (retrospective); Lyman Allyn Art Mus., New London, CT (solo); Lyme Academy of FA; Essex AA, 1998 (retrospective)."

Member: Am. A. Cong.

Work: Yale Univ. Art Gal.; Kresge Art Mus., E.Lansing, MI; Lyman Allyn Art Mus., New London, CT; Lyme Academy of FA; 20th Cent. Fndtn Mus., NYC; IARD

Comments: Emigrated to U.S. c.1920. A lyrical abstract painter, he was part of the second generation of the New York school. Referring to Braguin"s first solo in 1971, an Arts magazine critic called his paintings "powerful in their understatement and wonderful in their evocations." During his early New York years, Braguin was friendly with William Glackens and was engaged to marry his daughter, Lenna, but she died suddenly. During the 1930s, he became a successful furniture and fabric designer, and illustrator. During WWII, he served with the Office of Strategic Services as a photographer-spy who parachuted behind enemy lines in Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria. Upon his return, he worked for CondÈ Nast Publications, and illustrated for McCall"s, Delineator, and Harper"s. He and his wife, Janet Chatfield Taylor (fashion editor at Vogue), were very active in the New York art scene, and he returned to painting in the 1950s. During the 1960s he moved to Essex, CT, yet maintained his New York ties with artists such as Andy Warhol and Fairfield Porter. The bulk of his paintings belong to his continuing "Essex Harbor Series." Inspired by his love for sailing, the series balances harmonious pastel colors with geometric shapes, often sparked by calligraphic lines and rune-like makings.

Sources: WW40; IARD files

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