About John M. Barber

John M. Barber has painted the Chesapeake Bay and the eastern seaboard for over four decades — always invoking the magic of light to provide texture to his subjects and the Chesapeake’s vanishing way of life… 

Calling Barber the “premier chronicler of Chesapeake Bay life,” J. Russell Jinishian, the nation’s leading authority on contemporary marine art, praises the artist’s technical skill and painstaking attention to detail. “Many artists paint skipjacks,” he explains, “but John’s emotive depth puts him on another level entirely. Should the skipjacks disappear, Barber’s paintings will provide a valuable historical record of the waterman’s era for generations to come.”

Also renowned for his cityscapes and architectural art, Barber splits his time between his own original works and paintings commissioned by clients. To view some of his works, visit the Portfolio.

Barber earned his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1969 and lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife Kathy. They have two adult sons: Adam who lives with his family in Portland, Oregon, and Joshua lives with his family in Richmond. Visit Joshua Barber’s Fine Art Website.

50 Year Retrospective

One of Barber’s favorite spots on the Chesapeake is Deltaville, Virginia near the mouth of the Rappahannock River. The family has owned a home there and boated from this quaint little town for many years. In 2014 the Deltaville Maritime Museum opened a retrospective exhibit of over 50 of the artist’s paintings for four months. These paintings were created over 50 years and most were graciously loaned by their owners.

The Exhibition ran from June through October 2014.

Career Highlights

2014 - The Deltaville Maritime Museum hosted “John M. Barber’s Chesapeake – 50 Years of Maritime Art.”

2011 - Commandant Admiral Robert Papp reviews the artist’s study for the major painting “Our Flag was Still There” in September 2011.

2009 - Awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the National Maritime Historical Society in Washington, D.C. for his efforts in depicting the vanishing ways of life on the Chesapeake Bay and his environmental and philanthropic endeavors to save the Chesapeake. Other recipients of this award include maritime artists John Stobart and John Mecray; yacht designers Olin J. Stephens and H. Halsey Herreshoff; broadcasters and yachtsmen Walter Cronkite and Gary Jobson and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, CBE, the first sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and single-handed.

2007 -Elected to Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists.

2004 - Selected by the American Battle Monuments Commission to create the official painting of the WWII Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C

2003 -Honored by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland with a 25th Anniversary Retrospective. The museum exhibited 27 original works of art spanning Barber’s career. Featured in the publication Bound for Blue Water, the definitive collection of the best American marine art of the 20th and early 21st century, published by the Greenwich Workshop, Seymour, Connecticut.

2001 - Sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to paint a five-foot, 40-pound sculpture of the James River rockfish in Richmond, Virginia’s public art project “Go Fish!”

2000 -Selected to represent Virginia during the Clinton administration by creating a painting of the White House in Washington, D.C., in commemoration of the bicentennial of the President’s home.

1996 - John M. Barber’s Chesapeake, a retrospective fine art book and visual treasury of the artist’s career, published by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

1994 - Presented with the Medallion of Honor by the Virginians of Maryland.
Opened The Barber Gallery in Richmond, Virginia.

1992 -Two Barber paintings included in the U.S. State Department’s “Art in Embassies” Program, which exhibits American artists’ work in U.S. embassies abroad
Elected to the Board of Trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

1985 - Commissioned by the National Geographic Society to create an original oil painting for President Ronald Reagan, which was presented in a White House ceremony.

1984 - Presented with the Chesapeake Appreciation Days Award in recognition of his efforts to preserve, through his art, the last remaining Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks.