James Aponovich (b. 1948-) is a still life painter whose compositions are set against idealized Italian landscapes. Aponovich turned to still-life painting in the early 1980s after intensive study of Chinese landscape painting.

According to Aponovich, his inspiration to paint still life was the "attitude toward interpretation and assimilation [that exists in Chinese painting] so that the object and the artist become one".

Aponovich's work is greatly informed by nature. Married to a professional horticulturist, and as a gardener himself, Aponovich paints in conjunction with the bloom seasons, sketching first from the live bulbs, and resolving the remainder of the painting during the winter.

James Aponovich has exhibited nationally since the late 1970s. In 2005, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire mounted a major retrospective of his work.

His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Arkansas Art Institute, Little Rock; the Currier Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Portland Art Museum, ME, among others. The artist lives in New Hampshire.

James Aponovich (1948 --) Manchester, Hancock, and Peterborough, NH.

Born in Nashua, James Aponovich attended the University of New Hampshire at Durham. Although he began his career as a portraitist and figure painter, often of himself, he has been known since the early 1980s for his elaborate still life compositions. He began to exhibit during the 1970s, showing his work at the annual NH Art Association Currier shows from 1973 – 1985, winning prizes for his drawing. In 1976 he was given his first major solo show at New England College in Henniker; it was followed by on at the Currier in 1979.

Married to Elizabeth Johannsen a professional horticulturist, he has found a niche in painting still lifes in landscape backgrounds. Aponovich’s work features complex compositions often set against idealized Italian landscapes, especially since his 2010 as visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.

A Lifetime Fellow of the NH State Council on the Arts, Aponovich was named New Hampshire’s Artist Laureate in 2006. He has exhibited widely in galleries and museums, including 2005 retrospective at the Currier ahead of his artist laureate honor. Now a nationally known artist, his work may be seen in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Portland Museum of Art.

Written and submitted by Richard Candee, Professor Emeritus, Boston University and past President of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Historical Society