Nationally renowned artist Jack Stuppin, a fierce advocate of art in Sonoma County, dies at 89

Nationally renowned artist Jack Stuppin created a landscape style so striking — with its bright reds, yellows, greens and oranges — that his fans reported spotting “Stuppin hills” as they drove through Sonoma County.

“I’ve had hundreds of people tell me they can’t drive through Northern California now without seeing the landscape in a different way,“ the painter said in a 2009 interview with The Press Democrat.

A big man with a distinctive voice, Stuppin was known as an exuberant and forceful advocate for the arts in Sonoma County. He died peacefully Tuesday at his home in Sebastopol at age 89, said his wife, Diane Stuppin. The cause of death was coronary artery disease.

“Jack had a larger-than-life personality and will be missed by all who knew him,” said Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Museum of Sonoma County.

Stuppin, a successful businessman before he became a painter, was best-known as a co-founder and member of the historic Sonoma Four, which also included artist Tony King, of Freestone, and the late William Morehouse and Bill Wheeler.

In 1992, the quartet took a 40-day, cross-country, two-vehicle trek from California to Maine, stopping to paint as they traveled, to promote the art of on-site, plein-air landscape painting at a time when many artists had taken to working from photographs.

“That was really a bonding experience for the four of us. It brought out the differences in the personalities of the four of us,” said King, 78, the sole surviving member of the Sonoma Four.

“When we got to Lake George in New York, I climbed up on a hill to work alone,” King added. “Jack set up on the side of road. Soon there were people gathered around him, and he loved it.”

As an artist, Stuppin also had the skills and style of a businessman, King said.

“He found out early on that he was comfortable with rich and powerful people,” he said. “He had no problem calling up the director of a museum.”

That outgoing personality served Stuppin well.

“Jack was a national figure in art and a leader in the Sonoma County scene,” said former Press Democrat columnist Gaye LeBaron, who reported on the Sonoma Four at the time.

Stuppin brought an odd blend of backgrounds to his work: a Columbia University education, service in the Marines in Japan during peacetime between the Korean and Vietnam wars and a successful career as a Bay Area investment banker and entrepreneur, particularly in early computer software technology, starting in the 1960s.

“After a stint in the Marines, Stuppin arrived in San Francisco on March 23, 1958, with $28 in his pocket and ‘no marketable skills at all,’” Diane Peterson wrote in The Press Democrat in 1998, quoting the artist.

However, Stuppin did well as a young investment banker at the prestigious firm of Blyth & Co.

“Stuppin was an interesting guy,” LeBaron said. “He made his money and his living as a venture capitalist, but he was trained in art and put out a lot of output. He was huge in the development of the Museum of Sonoma County to where it is today.”

At 33, Stuppin went back to school at the Art Institute of San Francisco, where he squeezed in night courses around his busy business schedule. He took over an insolvent artist supply company and ran it for 10 years.

It wasn’t until he moved to Sonoma County in 1988 that Stuppin’s artistic career took off. Always both businessman and artist, he ultimately not only displayed his work in prestigious galleries and museums but also on calendars and cards.

“In addition to his iconic status as a Northern California painter, Jack Stuppin gave generously of his time and talent. His contributions to the Museum of Sonoma County and the art community were tremendous,” Nathanson said. “He served (on) the museum’s board of directors for many years and was a valued friend, adviser and donor who made a lasting impact.”

Stuppin never stopped setting new goals for himself, opening his first New York City gallery show in 2010 and staging a one-man show in 2021 at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York, in the region where he grew up. He was born in Yonkers in 1933.

Stuppin’s work is part of the collections of 21 museums across the country, including the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and the Museum of Sonoma County.

For the past 35 years, Stuppin lived at the Sebastopol estate known as Coffee Grounds, former home of Charles Schulz and his family, before the “Peanuts” cartoonist moved to Santa Rosa, said Stuppin’s wife Diane, whom he married in 2012.

Stuppin was married twice before. Both previous wives, Pamela Stuppin and Jane Stuppin, are deceased.

In addition to his wife, 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.

A celebration of Stuppin’s life will be announced for late spring. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Museum of Sonoma County, Pepperwood Preserve, Food for Thought and Becoming Independent.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.