EARLY MARINE ART

1950 — 1979

Bond always loved sailboats, using them as subjects in several paintings and ceramic murals from the 1950s and 60s. In 1976, he and his wife, Lois returned from five years in Jamaica, building and living in geodesic domes, and he took a job as the Night Pier Master at the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan. Here, he had the unique opportunity to get close to the crews and go aboard the historic Tall Ships from Operation Sail, docked in New York Harbor to celebrate the US Bicentennial.

This is when he discovered his career as a Marine Artist, mastering his distinctive watercolor technique painting ships and sailboats in a small studio in their Brooklyn Heights apartment. The subjects in these early works are classic schooners and traditional sailboats. Only a couple of years later, he discovered his most dynamic muse, in Newport, RI, one that would continue to inspire him for the remainder of his life—the modern, 12 Meter racing yachts of the America's Cup.

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