Celebrating The Luminous Legacy Of Preeminent Maritime Painter John Stobart

John Stobart depicted the Golden Age of Sail with meticulous attention to detail, each brushstroke drawing us closer into maritime history navigated by his keen eye for key port cities around the world.

Leicester, England-born Stobart, whose awe-inspired paintings are coveted globally by museums, corporations, and private collectors, died after a brief illness on March 2 at the age of 93 in Massachusetts.

“My John genuinely believed ‘the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.’ His mum died giving birth to him, and the doctors thought he would die, so his dad didn’t give him a middle name. He spent the first two years of his life fighting to live and did not stop fighting to live, love, and achieve for the next 91 years,” said Stobbart’s wife, Anne Fletcher.

A consummate master of his increasingly rare craft, Stobart achieved creative precision up until last year, when he completed his final work, Busy Day in the East River (2022). We’re captivated by the delicate dance of light on the water, even as our gaze embraces every corner of the elaborate scene depicting countless vessels. The intricacy required painstaking research and close analysis of his subjects. Describing another painting during an hour-long Zoom interview in July 2021, Stobart told me: “The ships are all different, and it was a lot of study to understand the whole system of it.”

“John, who will go down in history as one of the most important maritime artists of all time, was a truly amazing individual. Extremely generous, always happy, full of wonderful stories, and a pleasure to be with. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him,” said his New York-based art dealer and dear friend of decades, Howard Rehs of Rehs Galleries, Inc.

Emotion powers each oil painting, conveying intimate, historic narratives of life at sea and from bustling ports. Stobart is renowned as the leading maritime master of the 20th and 21st centuries, best known for his prolific creation of American harbor scenes during the Golden Age of Sail, loosely spanning the mid-19th century to the early-20th century.

“He knew success was 50% excellence and 50% self-promoting his art. We traveled all over the world, and believe me, everyone we met knew within 10 minutes about his amazing talent,” Fletcher said, referencing Stobart’s humor, quick wit, and gregarious charm. “When someone, without fail, became familiar with his work, they were astonished after viewing his paintings. Once, he was having some minor surgery, and while they were preparing for the procedure, three doctors walked in carrying his coffee table books to be signed.”

Like his masterful contemporary artworks that accurately re-imagine the past, Stobart’s life was a series of fascinating travel tales. His first trip to New York was on the train featured in a prominent scene starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest.

Stobart developed a passion for the seafaring world when he was 12 years old and traveled alone by tram to Pier Head in Liverpool. The last tram, Car 293 No. 6A, ran from Liverpool’s Pier Head to Bowring Park on September 14, 1957. The car was sold to the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, Maine, where it’s relegated to the rear of a shed.

Stobart’s first visit to the docks was, in his words to me, a “life-changing day,” that ignited his passion for drawing the subtleties of ships. He began formal study in 1945 at Derby College of Art in Derby, England, and went on to the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London, founded in 1768 by eminent artists and architects as an independent, privately funded institution. He took a short break to fulfill his peacetime conscription for the National Service, serving in the Royal Air Force.

Along with his paintings, the artist’s legacy thrives through The Stobart Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust he formed to inspire, support, and strengthen the passion and commitment of artists who paint directly from observation. The foundation offers financial assistance to young artists who aspire to establish themselves professionally through the practice of working directly from the subject, to create portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. Grants are awarded annually.

“My John never forgot how fortunate he was in his life and continually gave back to the art world: his foundation, which began in 1988, has given hundreds of artists a head start in their careers and will now continue even after his death,” said Fletcher, who managed Stobart’s career.