“When I was a child, the Palisades and the Hudson River were the edge of the world for me. The fall colors were a constant joy and painting them continues that joy. When I start a painting, I have no idea what it will look like when finished. The process is like taking an intellectual and emotional journey with one discovery after another.” —Jack Stuppin

Hudson River Museum mourns the loss of artist Jack Stuppin, who recently passed away on November 29 in his home in Sonoma County, California. He had been a friend of the Museum for decades, and we were honored to work with him just last year on what would be his final museum exhibition, Jack Stuppin: The Beginning of My World, which was on view July 2, 2021–February 20, 2022. The exhibition highlighted nine oil paintings, ranging from 2008 to 2020, from a series Stuppin called his “homage to the Hudson River School.” He vowed that if his long art career in California explored the edge of the continent, then, for him, Yonkers and the Hudson River Valley would always poignantly serve as his beginning. Stuppin flew in for the exhibition and also gave an Artist Tour on July 23, 2021, which was recorded and posted on the HRM’s YouTube channel.

“It was my inordinate pleasure to know and work with Jack Stuppin,” reminisced Masha Turchinsky, HRM Director and CEO. “I thoroughly enjoyed our many conversations and all of us at the Hudson River Museum appreciated that Jack never forgot his roots in spite of his many travels and experiences. His love of Yonkers, his ability to capture the enduring beauty of our Hudson Valley, and his generous commitment to opening up learning opportunities for all in our community made him a very special collaborator at our institution. We thank him for the journeys he shared with all of us.”

Jack Stuppin was born and raised in Yonkers and was a 1951 graduate of Gorton High School, Yonkers Public Schools. After graduating from Columbia College in 1955, he studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1960s and had a long artistic career on the West Coast. In the 1990s, Jack was part of a group of landscape painters known as the “Sonoma Four,” which also included Bill Wheeler, Tony King, and William Morehouse. Stuppin’sworks are in the permanent collections of twenty-one museums across the country, including de Young Museum in San Francisco, Museum of Sonoma County, and Hudson River Museum, which is proud to hold Tatashu Farm, Catskills, 2016.

In addition to his wife Diane Stuppin, he is survived by sons Michael Stuppin, of Sebastopol, and Jonathan Stuppin, of Sonoma; daughter Bonnie Stuppin, of San Anselmo; sister Joanna Deagan, of Carmel, New York; three nieces, five nephews, and two grandchildren.

Image: Jack Stuppin with Masha Turchinsky, Director and CEO, Tom D’Auria, Chair, Board of Trustees, and Laura Vookles, Chair, Curatorial Department, at the opening reception for Jack Stuppin: The Beginning of My World.