John Seerey Lester (1946 - 2020)

With work hanging at the White House and in permanent, private and Museum collections, throughout the world, John Seerey-Lester has become one of the most renowned of today’s wildlife and historic artists.

He moved to America over 30 years ago, making it his base of operation, and is now proud to be a citizen of the USA. He has continued to travel the world in search of images, over the years, preferring to paint from life. He has visited such diverse locations as Africa, China (where he painted the rare Giant Panda in the wild), India, the Arctic and Antarctica as well as Central and South America. It was a visit to East Africa over 35 years ago that gave birth to his interest in wildlife.

Before this, in his native England, John worked as a journalist, magazine editor and local government press officer before gaining enormous popularity in his home country for paintings of nostalgic scenes of the Victorian and Edwardian era. Now he has combined that early fascination for historic themes with his continuing interest in wildlife to capture in paint, the golden age of the White Hunter and the hunting heritage of North America. In a new series of paintings, John is revisiting the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in what is becoming his most successful work.

John has gained a reputation over the years for producing images with a narrative and which are both mysterious and mystical. Now he has taken this skill to produce a remarkable series of paintings depicting historic hunts of safari legends.

John has received many awards and much recognition for his outstanding achievements in the field of wildlife and sporting art. John was awarded the Ring of Freedom Award by the NRA, and was invited to become a member of the International Order of St. Hubertus. He was Knighted in 2013, by his Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Andreas of Austria.

He was presented to His Royal Highness Prince Phillip and was commended for his work in conservation. He has been chosen to exhibit works in the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds in Art” and “Wildlife: An Artist’s View”, shows each year since 1983 and his paintings are in their permanent collection. He has been made Master or Featured Artist for nearly every major wildlife art show over the years. He has also displayed in several other Museums such as the Gilcrease Museum, and National Museum of Wildlife Art, and in many other permanent collections such as Bennington Center for the Arts, and Nature in Art Museum.