Known for a range of work in watercolor and gouache that included realist figures in cityscapes, landscapes, surrealism, and trompe l'oeil painting, Aaron Bohrod spent his early career in Chicago where he was born on the West Side.

In 1948, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he became a long-time a member of the art faculty and satisfied the inclinations of many artists who leaned towards European-influenced modernism. In this university position, he replaced John Steuart Curry, Regionalist painter from Kansas, who had died. Many artists led by Surrealist Marshall Glasier thought Curry had been provincial and limited in subject matter and style.

In the late 1920's, Bohrod studied at the Art Institute...