Biography
Sergei Romanovich Bongart was born in Kiev to Roman Ivanovich and Anna Ivanovna Bongart. His father was a great patron of the arts and exposed young Bongart to art museums, operas, and ballets, which instilled a lifelong love for art. A graduate of the Russian Academy of Arts in Kiev, Bongart was the youngest student to ever be admitted. Studying five years at the Academy, Sergei considered the last three years under the tutelage of the prominent Master, Piotr Kotov to be especially valuable. Kotov had been a pupil of Iliya Efimovich Repin, the fountain head of the dominant tradition of Russian painting.
Sergei’s life and future were torn apart by the turmoil of World War II. His father was whisked away in the dead of night by the KGB and sent to Siberia, where he was tortured and died soon after. His mother died of Stalin’s “forced starvation.” Forced to flee his native land by the horror of war, Sergei’s art became the compass for his life. Using his talent to sustain himself, he studied in Prague, Vienna and Munich while awaiting a visa to enter the United States. Bongart’s artwork flourished and the art school he opened in Los Angeles attracted students and celebrities from around the globe, including Gene Hackman and Jack Lemmon.
He later also purchased a log cabin with acreage near Rexburg, Idaho, where he opened a second school. Finding eastern Idaho to be located at the same latitude as Kiev, he felt very much at home among the magpies, lush lilac bushes, and familiar wildlife.
Well-known for his skillful use of expressive color and ability to create harmony with his paintings, Bongart was one of the most sought-after and foremost instructors of his traditional Russian method in the United States. His students include artists Peter Liashkov, Dan McCaw, Sunny Apinchapong, Ovanes and Galust Berberian, and Guido Frick; all of whom continue to teach and foster the traditional Russian method he brought from Russia.