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LETTERS John Stobart There is another side to John Stoban NMHS members should know aboutStoban the humanitarian . In 1988, John estab lished The Stoban Foundation to give talented young artists financial support to ride them over through the period when, fresh our of art school, they could not earn enough money to support themselves from their arr. Many talented yo ung artists are lost to the profession because they have to rake a job in another line of work to survive and never get back to being artists. To dare, the fo undation has helped almost a hu ndred young artists to further their careers. Most people don't realize that when they buy a Stoban painting or prim, th ey are helping to assure the future of American traditional an-but that is how these srudem s have been helped to establish their careers. John Stoban's ultimate goal is to set up a building, which will house an office, instructional smdio, and gallery. H ere, the fo undation wo uld provide lecmres and instruction by prominem visiting artists and, thro ugh the gallery, assist in findin g representation for the smdenrs. I hope a big hitter will com e along to fund the building and put his name on it. In the meantime, the door is open to receive taJc-deducrible contributions at: The Stoban Foundation, 100 C ummings Center, Ste. 335J, Beverly, MA 11915 . GERALD
J. MCCAUL
will , no doubt, be aware of the prominence of hi s work in their own country, they may not be aware that, before he moved to rhe States, he had already developed a highly promising and successful career here in the UK as a ship por-
M VExplorer by john Stobart trait artist, com mi ss io ned by shipowners and others to depict the huge variety of dry cargo vessels and passenger ships seen in London Docks, Liverpool, and in the other major sea ports of the world. Even then, his work combined an as mre study of the archirecmre of the magnificent buildings that lined rhe waterfro nts with a detailed study of the naval archirecmre of the ships of the 1950s and 1960s. Sadly, these busy river scenes have vanished, replaced by the fleeting visits of the occasional cruise liner and container ship. Nonetheless, just three or four years ago, a sale rook place in London of the contents of the head office of Liverpool
shipow ner T & J Harrison, offering for sale up to 20 professionally built ship models and also a number of paintings of the Harrison fleet made by leading artists of the time, incl uding a good number by John Stobarr. Armed with my cheque book, I attended the sale, wh ich was hugely oversubscribed. Not one, bur two, sale rooms and the corridor were crammed with potential bidders, ex-Harrison seagoing staff and enth usiasts like myself. Against all the odds, I was successful in purchasing what, in m y view, was the pick of the bun ch! MV Explorer, buil t in Holland in 1961 , is depicted against a backdrop silho uette of the dockside cran es of London Docks as they used to be, with the late evening sunshine reflecting from the superstrucmre and deck gear. John Stobarr is one of only a few marine artists wo rkin g in oils who seems able to depict evening sunligh t to great advantage, as he has done in th is image . I look at it every day and always see something fam iliar to m e, as Explorer was typical of th e many dry cargo vessels built at that time, with either three or four holds forward of the accommodatio n hold and one aft, and very similar to the ships I was involved in building as a yo ung man in the 1960s. I feel pri vileged to have it on my wall, and wo uld share it with yo u now. ROB ERTS. H UNTER
Tyne & Wear, England
Lighthouse Point, Florida I was delighted to read John Stobart's recollections of his beginnings in the US and th e development of his career, becoming one of the leading artists depicting Am erican maritime heritage (Sea History 123) . He is to be congramlated for his pai nstaking research, re-creating the scenes of life in the heyday of the major East- and West Coast ports. As a retired naval architect, for many years invo lved in shipbuilding in Europe and elsewhere and now based in th e UK on Tyneside, the birthplace of C unard's Mauretania, I have had more than a passing interest in marine arr. Among artists both past and present, John Stobart has been one whose work I have particularly admired. Whilst yo ur American readers SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008
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