Jack Stuppin Obituary, Death – The bright red, yellow, green, and orange hues of Jack Stuppin’s landscape design have prompted accounts from admirers that they have driven across Sonoma County and spotted “Stuppin hills.” In a 2009 interview with The Press Democrat, the painter stated, “I’ve had hundreds of people tell me they can’t travel through Northern California now without experiencing the countryside in a different way.” Stuppin was well-known for being a passionate and tenacious promoter of the arts in Sonoma County. He was a huge man with a loud voice.
According to his wife Diane Stuppin, he quietly passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89 in his Sebastopol residence. Coronary artery disease was shown to be the main cause of death. Everyone who knew Jack will miss him, says Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Museum of Sonoma County. “Jack had a personality that was larger than life.” Jack was a great person. Before he began painting, Stuppin was a prosperous businessman. However, he is best recognized for being a founding member and a part of the renown Sonoma Four.
The other members of this group included Tony King, a Freestone-based artist, Bill Wheeler, and the late William Morehouse.
In 1992, the four artists departed on a forty-day road journey from California to Maine in two automobiles. They often stopped along the way to paint in an effort to promote the art of plein-air, on-location landscape painting at a time when many other painters preferred to work from images. “As a result of that completely shared experience, the four of us grew closer as friends. King, the 78-year-old single survivor of the Sonoma Four, claimed that it highlighted the distinctions between the four of us in terms of character.
When we arrived at Lake George, New York, King recalled, “I hiked up a hill to work by myself. When we arrived, we were the only ones there. On the shoulder of the road, Jack pitched his tent. He quickly attracted a crowd of people to himself, and he relished the spotlight. Stuppin, according to King, was an artist with the abilities and demeanor of a savvy businessman. The man claimed that early on, he “discovered that he felt at peace with rich and powerful persons.” He was immediately made aware of this. He had no trouble reaching the director of the museum.