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Some people are just born artists. I came to that conclusion early
in my life while watching my grandfather - Jewett Bubar - working
in his studio at his home in Alameda, California.
His studio was a small, knotty pine room, with a set of French doors
that looked out into a large backyard, complete with a fishpond
built by my father sometime during the Depression. This room was
magical - and it seemed to tell me all I needed to know about how
I wanted to look at the world - through an artist's eyes.
It is a testament to Jewett Bubar's work, that it always managed
to captivate me, even though I can barely remember anything he ever
may have said to me directly - for this was a dyed-in-the-wool New
Englander, a man of very few words... but those pictures, those
caricatures he'd doodle on bits of paper - those told me volumes
about both my love of art, as well as about my respect for my grandfather.
For some years since his passing in 1968, I have wanted to collect
what remains of his work in one place - to catalog and document
it for future generations. This website will be devoted to that
goal.
I have in my possession maybe a half dozen lobby posters and theatre-related
work that Jewett did for various theatre venues while employed by
Paramount-Publix and, later, by Fox West Coast theatres in the 1920's
and 1930's. These are done in a variety of media, including poster
paint, oil, and chalk. Additionally, I have at least a dozen of
Jewett's landscape paintings and sketches - mostly done in oil paints.
It is my hope that, as time goes on, Jewett Bubar's commercial and
landscape art will be more generally recognized. I also hope that
I will be able to locate many of his works - including theatre posters
and personal portrait commissions - that he did between the years
1917-1968.
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