Bongart studied at the Ukranian Academy of Arts, Kiev, Russia, and was a pupil of the painter, Ilja Repin. Before coming to the United States, he worked as a portraitist in a number of European cities, including Prague, Vienna, and Munich.
His principle media in his mature, American career was watercolor, and it was in this classification that he was elected to membership in the Academy. Among his awards were prizes from the Charles and Emma Frye Museum, Seattle, Washington; the Laguna Beach (California) Art Association; the Los Angeles County Fair All California Show; the American Artists Professional League, New York; and the International Watercolor Show, San Diego, California. He received the Ogden M. Pleissner Memorial Award in the Academy annual exhibition of 1985. Bongart was a member of the American Watercolor Society, the Royal Society of Fine Arts, London, the California Art Club, and the Laguna Beach (California) Art Association.
