Orientalist Arab Portrait Oil Painting by Bernard Green (Russian-American 1887-1951)

Our client's portrait of a proud Middle Eastern man, possibly Arabian, is a fine work by the Russian-born American painter, Bernard L. Green (1887-1951).  Stretcher measures 26 by 32 inches.  Signed by the artist in upper right corner and on reverse.

Bernard Green was born in Swerzen, Russia and came to the US at the age of eight, settling with his family in the New York City area. He studied at the National Academy of Design (NAD), the Art Students League, the College of the City of New York and New York University.  His earliest exhibit at NAD  was in 1910, and won prizes there in 1910, 1913 and 1914, including the Hallgarten School prize in painting in 1913, and the Saltus medal and etching prize.  (The Julius Hallgarten Prize was awarded by the National Academy from 1884 to 2008 for artists under the age of 35.)

His style was early 20th-century American Impressionism and painted landscapes, still lifes, portraiture and genre works including African-American and Orientalist subjects.

He exhibited regularly at NAD until 1946.  His work was featured at the Pan-Pacific Exposition in California in 1915.  His artwork was featured in group shows and solo shows at galleries in New York and elsewhere, including a solo show at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York in 1930

Green's works can be found in a number of museums, including the J B Speed Art Museum in Louisville and the Oakland Art Gallery. Memberships included the Rockport Art Association, the Allied Artists of America, the Modern Etchers Group, and Washington Heights Artists' Guild.  He taught for many years at Thomas Jefferson High School in New York City, as well as the Holbein Art School, and the Art Institute of the Roerich Museum.  He also often painted during his vacations in Nantucket and Rockport, Massachusetts.