With a career spanning over thirty years from 1981 to the present, Warwick Jacobs

has built a reputation as one of Britain’s most talented expedition artists. With over

half of his works having been completed in the field, Warwick has developed the ability

to quickly capture the true atmosphere of an event or scene. He is as happy painting

the animals and plains of Africa, as the open sea, and can as easily be found painting

in middle of Sahara, as he can sketching on slate 40ft underwater with a school of

Hammerhead sharks (as a qualified underwater artist). Highlights of his career

include six months in Africa, painting on a Royal Geographical Society project, and

ten three-month expeditions with Raleigh International, the British Schools Exploring

Society and Operation Raleigh as their official expedition artist.  

 

Warwick has painted whilst climbing high peaks in the Himalayas, and canoeing in

the fjords of South America; he has painted Pygmies in the Congo,  where he was also

charged whilst painting gorillas, barely 15ft away. He has painted parrots in the West

Indies, rare reptiles for the Mauritian Wildlife Trust, as well as the ice caps of Iceland,

and whales on the spot in the Faroe Islands. He has painted nuclear submarines and

ships for the Royal Navy, pilots in cockpits, and planes for airlines, once in exchange

for a flight on Concorde. Warwick specialises in painting ships and boats (marine art),

planes, wildlife and horses (one of the hardest subjects), portraits, and landscapes. His

largest undertakings have included dioramas on the side of Mauritian school buildings,

and even Gypsy scenes on Hampshire barns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                         Warwick’s work has been exhibited throughout the world, including New Zealand, Botswana, The Bahamas,

                                                                                         Chile, London, Australia, and Borneo. He has exhibited with the Royal Society of Wildlife Artists in the Mall

                                                                                         Galleries London, in the Royal Geographical Society’s  ‘Disappearing Africa’ exhibition, London, 1989, the

                                                                                         Australian Bicentennial, Bayswater Road Art exhibition, the Whale Tail Exhibition, Kenya, and various

                                                                                         naval and sailing institutions. He was Artist in Residence for Dolomites Trekking Holidays, 1996, and

                                                                                         his work has also featured on the covers of magazines such as British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) magazine, and  

                                                                                         Operation Raleigh magazine. He has just returned from a second trip painting in Nepal.

 

                                                                                         Warwick’s work is always in high demand. He has completed commissions for members of the British Royal

                                                                                         Family, including HRH Prince William and Princess Anne, as well as US President Ronald Reagan, and the

                                                                                         Emperor and Empress of Japan. His flair for capturing maritime scenes has also led to commissions for the

                                                                                         Royal Navy, the Royal Yachting Association, BT Global Challenge, and the Tall Ships Trust, not to

                                                                                         mention countless societies and military organisations around the world. For a more comprehensive list of

                                                                                         Warwick’s previous clients, please visit the clients page.

 

                                                                                         Warwick regularly attends charity events to raise funds with his pictures, offering his skills as a

                                                                                         caricaturist at top events in venues such as the Savoy Hotel London, and Portsmouth's Spinnaker

                                                                                         Tower, following in the footsteps of his great grandfather. He is also an occasional guest speaker for art clubs,

                                                                                         prisons and charitable societies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warwick currently paints at his studio half a mile from the Solent and draws inspiration from Montague Dawson and William Wiley, and admires contemporary artists such as David Shepherd. Warwick’s father and mother were both professional artists, carrying out commissions for Cunard, the Saudi royal family, and Presidents Sadat, Reagan and Carter. Warwick’s grandfather illustrated golfing publications, whilst his great grandfather, Major Charles John Cantelo Jacobs, illustrated for Vanity Fair and Punch, as well as painting members of the British and Spanish royal family. His great great  

                                                                                                                                           grandfather was the renowned Southampton and Isle of Wight Gothic artist John

                                                                                                                                           Cantelo, whose work can be found in museums across the South, and his great-  

                                                                                                                                           great aunt, Ellen Cantelo, a suffragette artist, exhibited in the Royal Academy

                                                                                                                                           in the 1850s, with pieces of her work currently in national collections.  

                                                                                                                                           Additionally, his great uncle was the 1950s/60s abstract artist Denis Bowen,  

                                                                                                                                           whose work  now hangs in the Tate Gallery and V&A in London. Warwick’s niece        

                                                                                                                                           keeps up the tradition, attending Central St. Martin’s School of Art, London.

                                                                                                                                           Warwick  trained under his father, professional artist David Jacobs, and also at

                                                                                                                                           the Heatherley School of fine art, Chelsea, 1985. Warwick has also been a Fellow of          

                                                                                                                                           the Royal Geographical Society since 1984, and is the founder and a trustee of the

                                                                                                                                           Hovercraft Museum, Gosport.

 

                                                                                                                                           Warwick does commissions, large and small, ranging from local village scenes to

                                                                                                                                           boardroom and museum pieces, fishing boats to cruise liners. He specialises in

                                                                                                                                           water colours, and prides himself on his fluid seascapes. He believes art isn’t just

                                                                                                                                           about the painting, it is about the experience, occasion or event, and

                                                                                                                                           above all about conveying an atmosphere.