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John Stobart
John Stobart preparing to draw a family member at a family gathering.
Born	John Stobart (1929-12-29) December 29, 1929 Leicester, England, U.K.
Nationality	British
Occupation	Painter
Children	Three

John Stobart (born December 29, 1929) is a professional artist, entrepreneur, writer, historian and philanthropist. Mr. Stobart has devoted his life to documenting the history of the Merchant Marine with paintings of all significant American and European ports, ships at sea, whaling scenes in the arctic along with landscapes and cityscapes of all types. Example Images Stobart founded the Stobart Foundation that supports recently graduated artists in gaining a foothold in the market.

Life and career

Youth and education

Stobart was born in Leicester in 1929; his mother died from a seizure as a complication of the birth.[1] Stobart's adored brother, George, told him, late in life, that he, John, was "drawing ALL the time on any scrap of paper you could find, from the age of 6". Stobart struggled academically, but showed a talent for painting. Despite lacking the appropriate educational qualifications, he was able to enroll at Derby School of Art[nb 2] in 1946 as a result of the influence of his father, a prominent pharmacist in Derby. His successful art school career led to Stobart being offered a prestigious scholarship at the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1950. He spent five years at the Academy, interrupted by a period of National Service.[2]

Born in Leicester, England, John Stobart was the second son of a chemist (US: pharmacist), Lancelot Stobart and a mother, Marguerite (Barrett) Stobart, who suffered a stroke shortly before his birth. He spent the first three years of his life in the hospital due to a stomach ailment - he was not expected to live and, thus, was not given a middle name. He was brought up in Allestree[nb 1] and Weston Underwood, Derbyshire, and was educated at Derby Grammar School. Raised by his father and various housekeepers, he, very early, showed a strong ability for drawing. His brother, George, told him, late in life, that he, John, was "drawing ALL the time on any scrap of paper you could find, from the age of 6". Their traditionalist father was unimpressed with John's drawing ability and would say that art was a sure way to "the downward spiral to a bohemian existence".

The Rolls Royce factory was nearby in Raynesway, Derby. During the war, this factory was used to build engines for war planes; an essential part of Britain's war machine. Because of the threat of the German's trying to bomb the factory, the children from Derby were sent away further into the country.

However, John's poor academic performance, but apparent flair for drawing eventually persuaded his father to enroll him in Derby College of Art in September, 1946. Suddenly fascinated by a new and more relaxed environment, Stobart took to the change like a duck to water, achieving high honors and a county scholarship to London's prestigious Royal Academy Schools, being one of only four students accepted that year. John Constable, J.W.M. Turner and many other British painters had studied in those same hallowed halls. Although interrupted by the obligatory national service (in Stobart's case the R.A.F.), he enjoyed the wealth of inspiration offered by nearby museums and galleries. Stobart used his five years at the Academy - as Henry Rushbury, then Keeper at the R.A. wrote in a testimonial, to "work with tireless enthusiasm to develop his powers." Realizing fairly early in his student days that an essential part of becoming a professional artist would be to achieve sales of his work, he began to exhibit small landscapes painted in the countryside outside London and along the river Thames. He found comfort in the fact that each sold fairly readily.

Personal Life

Early career

Upon graduation from the R.A. Schools, Stobart embarked on a voyage to South Africa to visit his father who, in 1950, had purchased a pharmacy in Bulawayo, - Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) - starting out on a new adventure at age 59. It was during this voyage, that the young artist came up with a novel idea. Gathering material, making sketches in each of the twelve exotic ports the passenger-cargo vessel put into, John Stobart realized new horizons. If he could borrow plans for new vessels being built, he could best take advantage of all that he had carefully observed in these exotic ports. Using his volume of sketches as background settings, and knowing these vessels could not be photographed, Stobart surmised that there would be a strong chance that paintings of the new ships would be attractive to the owners. The original paintings would be suitable for board room displays, and the prints could be used on calendars that each shipping company sent out annually. The idea worked well. Within two years his paintings of ships in foreign ports were decorating some fifteen shipping company board rooms in London and Canada.

At the suggestion of a Canadian lawyer who had been buying some of his Thames riverscapes and unhappy with the class prejudice he was experiencing in London, Stobart emigrated to Canada in 1957. He spend the following ten years developing his interest in the shipping companies along the St. Lawrence River, returning to England each year where Stobart kept a home in Farnham, Surrey, in order to meet the demands of the customer base he had established previously. Always hoping to paint the era of merchant sail, the opportunity arose in 1965. By that time he had a family with three children. Renting a house outside Toronto, home city of the lawyer who had inspired Stobart's move West, he ran into a dedicated admirer who had been collecting reproductions of his work for years. This gentleman, curator of the Maritime Museum of Upper Canada, gave his every effort to assist the young artist to become knowledgeable in the history of sail.

Gaining recognition

It was later in 1965, that John Stobart first visited the United States with four paintings of sailing ships, carefully wrapped up in brown paper and tied with string, under his arm. His idea was to see New York and find out what reaction there might be to his new paintings among four carefully chosen galleries. The same day he arrived in New York he was offered a one-man show by the Wunderlich family who had founded, and then owned, Kennedy Galleries. The Wunderlichs encouraged Stobart to pursue his notion to recreate the American harbor scene in the days of the great clipper era. This was a subject Stobart had discovered had hardly been attempted by contemporary artists of that time. Over the subsequent fifteen years, the Wunderlichs gave him seven one man shows, all virtual sell-outs.

The Business of Art

Seeing his large new originals disappear into private collections throughout the United States, Stobart initiated the idea of publishing limited edition prints of his more important works. He did this so that many more people than the originals' owners could appreciate these documents of scenes that no longer existed. Stobart established Maritime Heritage Prints, Inc. in 1976 feeling that the highest quality of production could only be assured if he himself remained in control.

Giving Back

Perpetually concerned about the aspiring art student in America in today's world, with the art establishment's heavy influence remaining biased against the traditional teaching of the fundamentals in drawing and painting, the artist, in 1989, created "The Stobart Foundation." This was funded by the profits of his publishing business for the purpose of awarding scholarships to qualified students who excel in outdoor on-site painting in oil on canvas. While continuing his popular series of paintings of the historic ports of America, Stobart has, since 1987, returned to the practice of painting contemporary outdoor subjects whenever possible. It is within this field of effort that John Stobart believes every landscape painter's ultimate contribution lies.

Personal Life

John Stobart summers in Westport, Massachusetts and winters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has 2 daughters and a son and 3 grandchildren. He enjoys tennis, architecture, history and painting outdoors especially with like-minded artists.

Philosophy

Bla, bla, bla, photography took the life out of true art. Art is drawing and painting. Sculpture is sculpture. Theatre is theatre. We are not educating our children about art and this causes a lack of... Americans don't appreciate art. Modern art is a mystery. Art is not only pure emotion, it has to express more than emotion. Art should express the artist's perspective on the subject.

Awards and accolades

Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Derby.

Works

Selected Paintings

• ALEXANDRIA The Ship “Fairfax ” c. 1845 1976
• Arctic Whaling “Cutting In” Among the Floes 1982
• BATH The Pultney Bridge over the River Avon 1996
• BOSTON R.M.S. “Britannia” Departing, February 1844 (LI)
• CAMDEN A View of the Shipbuilding Port and Mt. Battie, 1886 2000
• CAPE TOWN The Bark “William Hales” Towing out in 1886 1991
• CHARLESTON Over the Rooftops in 1870 1981
• CINCINNATI A View from Mt. Adams c. 1875
• Daniel Webster of Boston off Sandy Hook
• DARIEN Rings End Landing in 1900 1974
• Decks Awash 1978
• Dreadnought
• Flying Cloud
• GEORGETOWN Moonlight on the Potomac River 1988
• HANNIBAL View from Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home 1979
• Harbourtown by Moonlight 1984
• HONFLEUR The Lieutenance from the Inner Harbor
• HONG KONG A View of the Harbor in 1870 1990
• Inner Harbour of WHITBY, England, c. 1880 (LI)
• LAHAINA The Brig “Isabella” arriving in 1865 1989
• LIBERTY SHIP The “John W. Brown” April 1944
• Lightning Rounding Cape Horn
• LONDON (UK Edition) 1988
• Maiden Lane, New York in 1800 1977
• MARTHA'S VINEYARD Hart Haven
• Moonlight Encounter on the Mississippi 1983
• NANTUCKET Sleigh Ride
• NEW BEDFORD Snowfall on Central Wharf c.1875
• NEW YORK “Henry B. Hyde” leaving the East River 1886
• New York Lower South Street c. 1885
• Night Stop on the Mississippi
• PARIS Louvre at Pont Royal
• PHILADELPHIA Moonlight over the Delaware in 1835
• PITTSBURGH The Smithfield Street Bridge, 1883
• RICHMOND A View of the City in 1858
• SACRAMENTO Celebrated River Steamer “Chrysopolis”
• Sailing Day, Nantucket in 1841
• SAN FRANCISCO “Vicar of Bray” at Gold Rush Harbor
• SAN FRANCISCO The Gold Rush Harbor by Moonlight in 1851
• SANTA BARBARA The Brig “Pilgrim” leaving in 1835
• SAVANNAH World's First Transocean Steamship
• Schooner Yacht “America” in 1851
• South Street, New York in 1874 (Daylight)
• South Street, New York in 1880 (Gaslight)
• ST. AUGUSTINE A View of the Plaza in 1890
• ST. BARTHELEMY Baie St. Jean, 1992
• ST. LOUIS “Gateway to the West” in 1878
• St. Mary Approaching Cape Horn
• Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor in 1886
• Sunrise over Nantucket
• TIERRA DEL FUEGO (LI)
• Triumph in America “Australia II” Winning America’s Cup
• U.S.S. CONSTITUTION Preparing to Sail on the Ebb Tide
• VENICE Moonlight over the Grand Canal c. 1870
• VENICE The Salute from the Accademia Bridge
• VICTORIA The “Thermoplyae” in 1891
• VINEYARD HAVEN View from the Black Dog Tavern
• WHALING IN THE ARCTIC The “Charles W. Morgan”

Books

• The Grandeur of America's Age of Sail
• American Maritime Paintings of John Stobart
• John Stobart and the Ships of South Street.
• Ports and Passages
• STOBART The World of Sail and Steam
• The Complete Stobart Retrospective
• The Pleasures of Painting Outdoors A Diary of the thirteen part WorldScape I series.
• The Rediscovery of America's Maritime Heritage

DVDs

• John Stobart's Worldscape I
• John Stobart's Worldscape II
• Simplifying Outdoor Painting I

Articles Online

• Color Palettes: John Stobart (b. 1929)
• The View from Old Lyme an Academy with a Tradition of Art that's Understandable
• Change and the Stobart Pallette
• AskART Profile
• Art stuff
• John Stobart P.A.P.A. Profile

Artist Friends

• Bert Wright