Konstantin Rodko (24 August 1908 – 30 September 1995) was a Latvian painter who was based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Rodko's parents were Belarusian and Estonian. He married his first wife in Latvia and had four children. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

they had lived in Germany until they were able to leave from

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on 19 August 1950 on the '' USS General Harry Taylor'', and arrived in

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four days later. It was in America his painting talents came to prominence and sold them on the streets of New York. Rodko lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

with his children and then divorced his first wife and remarried a woman by the name of Kate Dennison. She too was a painter and the couple sold their works alongside each other. They moved to

Sea Cliff Seacliff or Sea Cliff or Sea Cliffe may refer to: ;Places ''Australia'' *Seacliff, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide * Seacliff Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide *Sea Cliff Bridge, in Illawarra, New South Wales ''New Zealand'' *Seacl ...

, Long Island, a close neighbor to Glen Cove. There he lived on the second floor of a Russian school. His second wife made many miniature paintings and Rodko painted his best works there. He would sell and give paintings as gifts to his four children. He also loved to play and listen to Russian gypsy music and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, paint Russian scenes and speak

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, which is why many thought he was Russian. He was a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

, and Kate was a

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who loved her cats. She considered the animals as her children (she never had children with Rodko) but she adopted his children from his previous relationship. Rodko had seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Toward the end of the 1980s, Rodko moved to Brentwood, Long Island until Kate died of a stroke in 1984. Rodko then returned to Glen Cove where he met his third wife in the house she owned, and he rented the upstairs apartment. It was that home in a small basement that his last

art studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

existed. He became sick and also had a stroke which led to his death in 1995. Unfortunately, the paintings that he left in the home were sold off and never given to his children but works are in

private collection A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individu ...

s with his family. He is survived by two daughters that live in

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and two sons that live in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Many of his grandchildren and great-grand children still live in the New York area.

References

External links

Bridgeman Art Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodko, Konstantin Latvian emigrants to the United States Naïve painters 1908 births 1995 deaths People from Sea Cliff, New York People from Brentwood, New York