The Countdown to Christmas Begins Once Again!

At age 17, Seattle Washington native Jack Dumas was invited to work at Walt Disney Studios in California. He stayed for only a short time. After returning home and taking art courses at two Seattle colleges, Dumas moved to L.A. and found time to continue his education at Chouinard and Art Center between commercial art assignments. Then came the war.



Dumas was drafted in 1941, serving in an Engineering Batallion that made strategic topographical maps. He was later stationed in the Philippines. After the war Dumas made a go of working in Portland, Oregon, but he eventually moved to San Francisco, where his commercial art career really took off. Advertising work lead to editorial art - and a steady stream of assignments for men's adventure magazine, Argosy.



Other editorial clients Dumas illustrated for include Sports Afield, covers and illustrations for Reader’s Digest, Outdoor Life, The Saturday Evening Post and Bantam Books,.



And while these examples clearly demonstrate Dumas' proficiency at handling a wide and varied range of subject matter...



... it was his advertising art for the forestry company, Weyerhaeuser (for whom Dumas illustrated many ads over many years) that first afforded him the opportunity to paint wildlife subjects and their habitat.



Dumas, who went on to specialize in wildlife painting after the demand for commercial art diminished, greatly admired and was inspired by the work of Harold Von Schmidt and Stan Galli (a friend and colleague) and, according to his widow, Jane Dumas, "also admired the style of wildlife artist, Bob Kuhn."

Jack Dumas died in 1998 at age 83.