Bidspirit auction | John Alexander Noble ”East River”

John Alexander Noble ”East River” Oil on Canvas - Hand signed by the artist in the lower left.  Provenance information provided, including an appraisal,  exhibition documentation, and correspondence between original owners and the artist.  Exhibited in 1965 at The Mariners Museum in the show ”Hulls and Hulks in the Tide of Time.”    Image: 23” x 31 1/2”  Frame: 31 1/4” x 39 1/2”    Condition: The painting is in very good condition. Please see images for details.    Artist Bio: John A. Noble (1913–1983) was the son of the painter John “Wichita Bill” Noble. In 1928 he first saw the Port Johnston coal docks on the Kill van Kull — what he called the largest graveyard of wooden sailing vessels in the world — and it set his subject for life; he worked as a schooner seaman and in marine salvage until 1945, built a floating houseboat studio out of salvaged ship parts in 1941, and once he turned to art full time rowed a dory around New York Harbor to draw on site. His subject was the working harbor and the people in it, recorded from the water rather than the shore. His seventy-nine lithographs are the core of his output, with oils far less common. His archive and the reassembled houseboat studio are held by the Noble Maritime Collection on Staten Island.