John Charles Terelak (b. 1942)
Dory Fisherman off the Grand Banks, 1978
signed and dated "JC Terelak © 78"
oil on canvas, 86 by 74 in.

This Terelak masterwork hung in Boston's State Street Bank.

The Grand Banks, southeast of Newfoundland, are a series of shallow, underwater plateaus on the North American continental shelf, 50 to 300 feet deep. Here the cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, lifting nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface and creating one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. It is home to Atlantic cod, swordfish, haddock, as well as colonies of seabirds and sea mammals.

In "Dory Fishermen off the Grand Banks," Terelak captures a fishing schooner becalmed in the early morning with three long-line dories returning with their catch. While seemingly from a bygone era, such schooners remained fishing into the 1980s on the Banks, as they had for centuries.

John Charles Terelak is an American Impressionist who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and received formal art instruction at the Vesper George School of Fine Art. Terelak established a studio in Rockport, Massachusetts, and founded the Gloucester Academy of Fine Art, which he headed for many years. He has been an active member of the Guild of Boston Artists and President of the New England Watercolor Society. His paintings capture the nobility of the Gloucester fisherman, the tranquility of spring mornings in the Vermont, life on the beaches of Cape Cod, and a snowfall in Times Square. His works can be found in many top private and public collections throughout the United States, including the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Sheraton Corporation, Winthrop Financial Corporation, Prudential Insurance Company, Bank of Boston, Shawmut Bank, State Street Bank, Boston, and Sterling-Regal Publishing Company.

Provenance: Collection of the Artist, Rockport, Massachusetts
Oui Gallery, Boston
State Street Bank, Boston
Estate of a Collector, San Francisco

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