Rodvogin, Harris (“Harry”) (1897-1998)

Born in London, Rodvogin’s family immigrated to Hartford, CT in 1900. His parents ran a neighborhood grocery store while he drew pictures upstairs and studied with local artist T. J. Thurber. In 1923 Rodvogin received a scholarship to the Art Students League and moved to New York, returning home during the summers. “Then I’d be set for another winter of starvation in New York,” he later recalled (De Bona 111). Not a strong marketer of his own work, Rodvogin made ends meet by selling the occasionally photograph or painting, notably a Time magazine cover in 1932 of  the French Prime Minister Pierre Laval. Like  “The Constitution and the Guerrere,” Rodvogin’s other WPA works seem to focus upon historic maritime subject matter: the Mayflower, Battle of Lake Ontario, and so on. During World War II Rodvogin served in the US Navy as an aerial photographer. He returned to New York and then amidst dire straits in the 1950s was invited by the art critic and collector William to live as artist-in-residence at a former mansion overlooking Long Island Sound in New London, CT  called the Lighthouse Inn. He continued to paint and lived to be nearly a hundred years old. 1 work at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum. 5 more images at FAP.

Source consulted: Joe De Bona, “He’s Losing His Fight Against Success,” Hartford Courant 27 Feb. 1966: 110-111.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Harry Rodvogin:

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October Landscape
October Landscape

Although it owes something to Cézanne’s post-impressionist fields of color, Rites’ painting often de-emphasizes formal shapes that would hold together such a composition. It takes a second look to discern a house, outbuilding, and dock upon a pond or small lake—the effect is one of vividly hued camouflage. Interestingly, the most distinct lines are those of two trees in the foreground, and next to them a pole with a telephone or electrical power line.

rodvoginGVCA