Roche Harbour, San Juan Island WA circa 1910

Steven Dews is one of Britain’s most celebrated marine artists. Born in Yorkshire in 1949, Dews divides his time between his homes in Australia and on England’s southern coast. He trained as an engineering illustrator in Yorkshire at the Hull Regional College of Art.

Following his graduation Dews built up an extensive portfolio for his first exhibition in 1976 and on the exhibition’s opening night almost his entire collection was sold.

The following year he exhibited in San Francisco which also sold out to great critical acclaim, and since then, Steven Dews has continued exhibiting regularly at leading galleries in London and throughout the world.

Dews is a highly experienced yachtsman having owned cruising and race yachts. He has sailed on Lulworth and Velsheda, and his passion for ships and the sea is clearly evident in the composition and detail of his paintings. Dews states: “I sail so that I can paint and I paint so that I can sail, they feed each other both literally and emotionally.”

Dews’ paintings are prized amongst collectors and have seen him attract major patrons including the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Marine Board of New South Wales and the New York Yacht Club. He has also undertaken private commissions for marine collectors and America’s Cup syndicate owners around the world.

He is now commissioned for several years in advance. Confirmation of his pre-eminence came in the Sotheby’s sale of Maritime Art in London on April 28th 1999, where his oil painting, entitled ‘Off Cowes’, sold for a phenomenal price for a living marine artist and in September 2012 his oil painting ‘The Battle of Trafalgar” sold for  U.S. $274,675 at Bonhams Marine sale.

Steven Dews’s work is avidly collected around the world. Above all, he lives and loves the subjects he paints, and spends any of his spare time, sailing.