Jerry Summers: Hubert Shuptrine - Artist (1936-2006)

Chattanooga has been fortunate to have several artists who have been acclaimed nationally for their artistic talents. Hubert Shuptrine would be included in that group.   

 

He was born on March 21, 1936, and graduated from Central High School on Dodds Avenue where he played the trumpet in the band and was the Class Poet in 1954.

Fellow classmate and band member Richard Dick Clinton recalls him as a spell binding speaker.  However, his artistic talents were criticized by the school art teacher, Mrs. Derryberry, who erroneously exclaimed that “he would never make it as an artist.”

 

He graduated from the University of Chattanooga (UC) with a degree in fine arts painting.  Evidently his works improved considerably while at UC as he has won numerous regional and national competitions.  He also was placed in charge of the ROTC military band. After serving in the United States Quartermaster Corps and working in several jobs in the visual arts field, in 1968 he became a full-time fine arts artist.

 

His breakout book of watercolors which started him on the road to national prominence was Jericho: The South Beheld.  The text of the book was written by renowned poet/author James Dickey and it was widely touted by both the broadcast and print media.  The work resulted in record sales in art book publishing. James Dickey described his colleague's work as follows:

 

Hubert Shuptrine works in watercolor with a beautiful sense of the sheer, living consequentiality of his subject and with a skill that makes every picture an event to be reckoned with.  He is a Beholder.  He is able to enter into objects and people and places with the sense of these things entering into him.  --- James Dickey, Jericho: The South Beheld

 

A sequel was published in 1987, Home to Jericho, which was a collection of watercolors that included people in the painting.  This time the text was written by Hubert and his wife, Phyllis.  With his outstanding talent as an orator, Shuptrine became a spokesman for art and was a frequent lecturer in various forums in industry, colleges, universities and private clubs.

 

He was a recipient of many awards including the University of Tennessee Distinguished Alumnus Award and Distinguished Artist Award by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

 

Shuptrine’s works are displayed in many leading museums and are treasured pieces in the private and corporate collections across the country.  His legacy of being an outstanding artist has been passed on to his son, Alan, and daughter Stephanie Shuptrine.  Alan is a nationally renowned artist whose watercolors are also prominently displayed in several museums. Stephanie has a studio in Brevard, North Carolina where she likewise has gained national recognition for her painting of individuals.  A third son, Randall, has been an outstanding movie producer.

 

It might be an understatement that Hubert’s high school art teacher may have made a major mistake in failing to recognize his artistic talents at an early age!

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