Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

YaleArt

Full Text:

Yale Art Gallery Receives A Bequest From Simeon Braguin

NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- The Yale University Art Gallery has received a bequest of

more than $8 million from the estate of Simeon Braguin, a designer,

illustrator, and artist who died in November, 1997, at the age of 90.

Jock Reynolds, The Henry J. Heinz II director, expressed the gallery's

profound gratitude for the bequest. "Unlike most of our benefactors, Simeon

Braguin had no previous connection with Yale University, but since settling in

Essex, Conn., 30 years ago, he had developed a close relationship with two of

my predecessors and the talented curators of our American and contemporary art

departments."

"The terms of his will," Reynolds added, "reflect his personal aesthetic

judgments, yet give us welcome latitude in acquiring contemporary art."

The artist's will directs that income from The Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund,

named for Braguin and his deceased wife, the former Janet Chatfield Taylor, be

used "in a fashion which assists living American artists by the acquisition

and display of their works by the art gallery."

In establishing his legacy gift, Braguin stated, "It is my hope that the

gallery will thereby continue and support the grand tradition of modern

American art which started with the Ashcan School, Maurice Prendergast, Arthur

Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keefe, Stuart David and Milton Avery, through

Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Kenzo Okado, Sandy Calder and David

Smith. It is my further hope that the gallery, in its acquisitions with the

net income of the fund, will be adventurous enough to discover new, unknown

talent and prudent enough to avoid trendy and flashy works."

Born in Ukraine in 1907, Braguin came with his family to the United States as

a teenager. He studied with Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League and

was befriended by the artist William Glackens. His early success was as a

furniture and fabric designer and later as a photographer.

Braguin served in Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia during World War II and was

particularly proud of his photographic work with the Office of Strategic

Services. In the 1950s he returned to painting, "starting at the beginning,"

he said, and had his first one-man show in 1971 at the Poindexter Gallery in

new York. Since then his paintings and wire sculptures, most notably his

"Essex Harbor Series" and "Main Street Series" have been shown at numerous

museums and galleries in New York and Connecticut.

He and his wife Janet, a fashion editor at Vogue magazine, were actively

involved in the New York art world until they moved permanently to their

summer home in Essex in 1968. There he was a concerned and involved citizen of

the town, founding the Tri-Town Youth Services and co-founding the North Main

Street Association.

An avid sailor, Braguin raced his 14-foot Blue Jay at the Pettipaugh Yacht

Club every Sunday until the age of 86. He continued to paint in his studio

every day until a year before his death.