George Bogart was more than just one of my dearest friends; he was a constant inspiration.  I remember the first time I saw George's paintings; it was at the gallery of the Architecture Department at the University of Texas in 1961 where I was just beginning to work on my MFA and George was teaching in the Art Department  I walked into the gallery not knowing what to expect and was completely blown away by those paintings; they seemed to be off kilter at first glance.  Of course this was intentional on George's part.  There was a strong diagonal that seemed to be causing the paintings to list.  He liked to challenge the viewer...throw them just a little off-balance; he did that his entire artistic career.  Every time I stepped into George's "world," his studio, I was overwhelmed by the constant newness of the work, always in those rich colors that George knew so well.  The work always "spoke" to me in that painterly way that great painters achieve.  George was truly a painter's painter.

Of course, George was much more than a great painter; he was one of the kindest, warmest, most intelligent human beings I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  He loved to read and talk about art; he always had a new art book to recommend.   When we would visit it was not uncommon to sit up late into the night and talk Art.  After all it was his religion.

Robert O. Wright 
Professor Emeritus
University of Kansas
former student from University of Texas