(Prosek-Devinščina, 26.8.1918 - Englewood, 12.2013)
Bogdan Grom was a versatile artist who moved to the USA after 1957. He initially studied painting at the University of Perugia, and then in Rome and Venice. He graduated there in 1944. Together with Avgust Černigoj, Jože Cesar, Robert Hlavaty, Rudolf Saksida and Avrelij Lukežič, he is included in the group of Trieste-Slovenian artists who tried to bring abstract art to our country.
In their works of art, they tried to distance themselves from figuration and realism in order to renew painting with their expressiveness. They were under strong political pressure and, with their creativity, strengthened national consciousness and called for political freedom. After World War II, Trieste was considered a crossroads of cultural and political events. It was there that the all-Slovenian revival took place, as the artists expressed the national struggle with their works. The main event took place in the city's Scorpione gallery, where progressive artists exhibited their production. Grom also presented his work there several times, and in 1964 and 1969 he also participated in the exhibition of the Association of Slovenian Visual Artists in Ljubljana. The most revolutionary exhibition in which the Trieste painters participated took place in 1950 at the Modern Gallery. At that time, they became so recognizable that they were discussed as a phenomenon in Slovenian art, and three years later they were included in the gallery's permanent exhibition. The common feature that connected them was the geometric or relaxed stylization of motifs from Istria and the Karst.
Clear compositions and a simple expression came to the fore, with which they approached the widest audience. The Trieste painters depicted motifs from the urban environment, around which they designed a geometrically stylized landscape. Although Grom was part of Černigoj's Art Club, he soon decided to move to America. Before he left, he published a graphic folder with motifs from the Karst in Trieste. There he experimented with various media, but he also included local traditions. During his life, he taught painting several times and participated in numerous art societies. In the first phase, he was still somewhat attached to figural art. He gradually simplified this until he reached near-abstraction. In America, he mainly worked with sculpture and tapestry, and tackled the design of parks, city squares and shopping centers. He also made some equipment for religious buildings. His works were exhibited in world-famous galleries around the world. Two years before his death, he received a medal as an ambassador of Slovenian culture and art.
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Bogdan Grom je bil vsestranski umetnik, ki se je po letu 1957 preselil v ZDA. Slikarstvo je sprva študiral na univerzi v Perugii, nato pa še v Rimu in Benetkah. Tam je leta 1944 tudi diplomiral. Skupaj z Avgustom Černigojem, Jožetom Cesarjem, Robertom Hlavatyjem, Rudolfom Saksido in Avrelijem Lukežičem ga uvrščamo v skupino tržaško slovenskih ustvarjalcev, ki so abstraktno umetnost skušali pripeljali tudi k nam.
V likovnih delih so se skušali oddaljiti od figuralike in realizma, da bi s svojo izraznostjo prenovili slikarstvo. Bili so pod močnim političnim pritiskom in so s svojo ustvarjalnostjo krepili narodno zavest ter pozivali k politični svobodi. Po 2. svetovni vojni je Trst veljal za stičišče kulturnega in političnega dogajanja. V njem je potekal vse slovenski preporod, saj so umetniki s svojimi deli izražali nacionalno borbo. Glavno dogajanje se je odvijalo v mestni galeriji Scorpione kjer so napredni umetniki razstavljali svojo produkcijo. Večkrat se je tam predstavil tudi Grom, ki se je leta 1964 in 1969 udeležil še razstave Društva slovenskih upodabljajočih umetnikov v Ljubljani. Najbolj revolucionarna razstava, na kateri so sodelovali tržaški slikarji, se je odvila leta 1950 v Moderni galeriji. Takrat so postali tako prepoznavni, da so o njih razpravljali kot o fenomenu v slovenski umetnosti, tri leta za tem pa so jih vključili v stalno postavitev galerije. Skupna značilnost, ki jih je povezovala je bila geometrična ali sproščena stilizacija motivov iz Istre in Krasa. V ospredje so stopile pregledne kompozicije in enostaven izraz, s katerim so se približali najširšemu občinstvu. Tržaški slikarji so upodabljali motive iz urbanega okolja, okoli katerih so zasnovali geometrično stilizirano krajino. Čeprav je bil Grom del Černigojevega Art kluba, se je že kmalu odločil za selitev v Ameriko. Preden je odpotoval, je v Trstu izdal grafično mapo z motivi s Krasa.
Tam je eksperimentiral v raznolikih medijih, vseeno pa je vanje vključil tudi domačo tradicijo. V svojem življenju je večkrat poučeval slikanje in sodeloval v številnih umetnostnih društvih. V prvi fazi je bil še nekoliko navezan na figuraliko. To je postopoma poenostavil, dokler ni dosegel skorajšnje abstrakcije. V Ameriki se je ukvarjal predvsem s kiparstvom in tapiserijo ter se spopadel s projektiranjem parkov, mestnih trgov in trgovskih središč. Izdelal je tudi nekaj opreme za sakralne objekte. Njegova dela so prišla v svetovno znane galerije po vsem svetu. Dve leti pred smrtjo je prejel odličje, kot ambasador slovenske kulture in umetnosti.
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
SOURES/VIRI:
Milček KOMELJ-Carole RYAVEC-Laura CUDER TURK et all., Bogdan Grom-oprema sakralnih objektov v Ameriki, Ljubljana 2008
Vid R. LENARD, s. v. Tržaški slovenski slikarji, Pojmovnik slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, Ljubljana 2009, pp. 282-288.
Milko RENER, s. v. Grom Bogdan (1918-2013), Slovenski biografski leksikon, VI/1, Gracar Hafner, 1979-2013, https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi1010680/ (2.12.2024)
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