Global Art Hunt for David Shepherd Originals

I had a call recently from a man called Colin Smith, on behalf of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. The foundation is trying to track down the owners of original David Shepherd paintings as part of a project to establish their whereabouts. One of the difficulties DSWF have in tracking down original artwork is that David painted around 6000 pictures in his lifetime and the subject matter is in a lot of cases is unknown or at least the exact detail is.

David Shepherd started his career as an aviation artist and owed a great deal to the armed services, which commissioned paintings that took him all over the world. The RAF flew him to Kenya in 1960, which proved a turning point in his career when they commissioned his very first wildlife painting – a rhino on a runway – and he never looked back.

It was at this time that he became a conservationist overnight when he came across 255 dead zebra at a poisoned waterhole in Tanzania. Throughout his career David tried to do all he could to repay the enormous debt he felt he owed to the elephants, tigers and other animals that gave him so much success as an artist.

In one of his books David talks of being commissioned in the 1960’s by the management of the Blue Funnel Line in Liverpool to paint a couple of their passenger and cargo vessels that sailed in the far east. The actual detail of which ships is unknown but the painting were hung in the lines boardroom. The question is on the demise of the line what happened to them?

This project is called the David Shepherd Originals Circle, and you can find out more information here.

Alternatively, leave a comment below or get in touch via our about page and we will put you in contact with Colin.