About the Artist

Edwin A. Bogucki

Born in 1932 to Polish immigrant parents. Bogucki was raised in Racine, Wisconsin where, as a young boy he displayed an uncommon talent for fine art and a particularly intense interest in animals. Although his parents tried to discourage his aspiring talents in the hope of his pursuing a more "lucrative" career, Bogucki maintained his love for art and dedicated himself to learning as much as possible on his own.

The artist's early experience with self teaching turned into a lifelong commitment to purposefully avoiding formal art education. Believing that he must maintain the purity and uniqueness of his own ideas, Bogucki sought and accepted instruction from only three people. The first was Sister Monica, a high school teacher who had been a pupil of Mestrovic. Another was painter, Alex Dzigurski, with whom Bogucki spent an afternoon of intense instruction concerning his palette. The most influential person however, was Harry C. Thompson, a civilian artist that Bogucki met in 1953 after he was drafted into the army and served in the Fort Holibird, Counter Intelligence Corps training aids department. That same year Bogucki married his wife Shirley.

In 1959 Bogucki made the decision to leave his job in commercial art and pursue a full time career in fine art. Working in both oil and pastel, the artist did many portraits of horses, dogs, and children.

In 1962 a commission for a bronze portrait of a Shetland pony named Frisco Pete owned by the Victor Comptometer Corporation gave Bogucki his first opportunity to work in that medium.

Since those early years Bogucki's main body of work has been made up of commissioned portraits of horses and people. His highly sought after bronze portraits number 35 to date while his pastel and oil portraits amount to well over a hundred. He has also done many limited edition bronzes and noncommissioned oil paintings. Recently, the artist has devoted a large part of his time to other animal species, of particular interest has been the lowland gorilla. With each new piece his unusual talent has showcased a versatility rarely encountered in contemporary artists.

Today, Bogucki lives in Racine County where he and Shirley maintain the five acres of Wisconsin woodland on which their home/studio complex was built. Designed by the artist himself, the property includes a barn and facilities for Bogucki's own animals that serve as models for his work. The Boguckis have four children, Steve, Robin, Sheri, and Kathi.

► Kentucky Horsepark feature page on the work of Edwin Bogucki

►List of Works in Museums and Public Places

►Bogucki Studios home page