Martin Borgord (1869-1935) “Bather At The Beach”, Oil On Wood Impressionist School

Martin Borgord (1869-1935) “Bather at the Beach”, oil on wood panel signed lower right and dedicated to Madame Merlet.

Martin Borgord was born on February 8, 1869 in Guasdal, Norway and died on March 25, 1935 in Riverside, California.

At the age of 16, Borgord was living in San Francisco and enrolled to study with Virgil Macey Williams (1830-1886) at the San Francisco Art Association’s School of Design. Interested in both painting and sculpture, Borgord traveled to Paris. He was accepted to study at the Académie Julian with Jean-Paul Laurens and at the Académie des Beaux-Arts with sculptor Charles Raoul Verlet. In 1896, Martin Borgord would return to New York and enroll in the new Chase School of Art (later renamed the New York School of Art) with William Merritt. In 1899, the influential art dealer William Macbeth, dedicated to the cause of promoting American art, represented Borgord in New York. With his friend and fellow artist William Henry Singer (son of steel magnate William Singer), he settled in the late 19th century in Laren, Netherlands, a small town where many artists of the Hague School, influenced by French art. The Impressionists, who had gone to experiment with painting in the open air, welcomed into their studio a large number of American artists, including, among others, Henry Ward Ranger, William Henry Howe, Amy Cross, Charles Gruppe, Walter Castle Keith, and Joseph Raphael. Borgord returned to the United States to become director of the Carnegie Institute School of Art and the Allegheny School of Painting in Pennsylvania, but he would continue to maintain a part-time studio in Holland.

At the Paris Salon of 1905, Borgord was honored with a gold medal and, years later, in 1924, with a solo exhibition of his paintings and sculptures at the Galerie de Marsan. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1913 and again in 1919. An international artist, he belonged not only to the exclusive Salmagundi Club in New York, but also to the St. Lucas Society in Amsterdam, the Allied Art Association, and the American Art Association in Paris.

He was recognized in the United States and Europe as a leading painter and sculptor.

Museums: Musée du Luxembourg, Paris Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh National Academy of Design, New York Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD Sweat Memorial Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

In 1916, to a journalist who interviewed him for the Hartford Courant explains: In the past, I worked on the effects of light and shade; Now I paint exclusively for unusual effects and color harmonies”
Our beautiful painting belongs precisely to this period, strongly influenced by French Impressionism: the contours of the characters fade, getting lost in the colors and light of the background, with dense and decided brushstrokes.
Very good condition. In a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame.

Measurements
panel cm 43 x 36
frame cm 51 x 44