BURTON E. MOORE, JR. Burton E. Moore, Jr. is somewhat of an enigma. Although very much an extrovert, he makes every effort to keep his own life a very private matter. Burton was born January 22, 1945, in Columbia, South Carolina, from a long line of intelligent and talented ancestors. His father, Burton, Sr., is a mathematician with a master's degree, and his mother, Mary Jane, is a professional interior designer and member of the American Society of Interior Designers. All these factors came into play in Burton's early years and greatly influenced his career, although, ironically, he failed one high school art course due to "conflict of interests with the 'young teacher'." At age 21 he postponed college and joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He ended his "lash-up" as a sergeant and member of the Marine's sniper team. After finishing college with a B.A. degree in American History, he signed up with the Corps in the officer program at Quantico, Virginia. He served time in The Republic of South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Gaza Strip in the Middle East. During this time, as brief respites from Marine infantry, he attended U.S. Army Ranger and Airborne schools, the High Altitude - Low Opening (HALO) parachute course, and U.S. Navy basic and advanced SCUBA training. As a first lieutenant he taught a course in aerial photography and topography interpretation for Army 5th Special Forces Group, attended the Night Parachute and Infiltration Course with 41 Commando Group, British Royal Marines as a liaison officer, and trained with the 2nd Parachute Battalion (French) Foreign Legion on Corsica. After nine years with the Marines, Burton left the Corps as a captain specializing in counterinsurgency and parachute reconnaissance. Soon after putting his military service behind him, Burt decided to pursue a career in art. A local exhibition was arranged coinciding with the reproduction of his first sporting art in his state's wildlife magazine. He walked into a well-known frame shop to have his work framed. A pretty, young lady by the name of Jan Gestefeld owned the shop and personally assisted him in the selection of frames. For Burt it was love at first sight. They were married shortly thereafter. He continued to teach himself to paint because art schools generally taught abstract art and other forms that had nothing to do with wildlife and sporting art, even shunning that field as a sub-art form, and were saturated with avant-garde artists with whom Burt had little in common. As his reputation grew, he became noticed by magazine art editors and fine art publishers. He is best known for his portrayals of hunting dogs, old decoys, and the ambience of duck hunting. Burt has always enjoyed certain sports. Prior to and during his marine corps time he enjoyed sport parachuting (has over 500 jumps), and did some Golden Gloves boxing in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight division. He is an avid collector of antique firearms of the American Civil War period, and classic sporting shotguns and rifles of the "golden era" prior to World War II. Hunting has always been a necessary part of Burt's life, and he plans to raise his son, Burton E. Moore III, in that tradition. His Chesapeake Bay retriever, Gun, will certainly play an active role in that, as well as serve as subject material for future paintings. Most of his hunting is that of waterfowl, but some has been done in Western North America. He is planning a trip to Africa for both hunting and photography. The very mention of the Dark Continent raises the adrenalin level of any hunter. Burt had entered the Federal Duck Stamp competition only once before his painting was selected for the 1986-87 design. When asked if he planned to enter state competition as well as the federal, he replied, "As a general rule I am not fond of entering any duck stamp competition, be it federal or state, because it lends itself to a continuous 'playing the odds' game that results in ones' becoming a quasi-slave in hopes of eventually winning a contest instead of concentrating and taking the long time required in thought process for creating a work of a more refined nature." His paintings have been on exhibition at The Smithsonian Institution, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Leigh-Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, The Masters Show in Ligonier, Easton Waterfowl Festival, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, and others. Burt now resides in historic Charleston, South Carolina, and is a Life Sponsor in Ducks Unlimited, a "by the books" wildlife conservationist, and has been as active as has been permissible in helping the underprivileged. With his sudden change in financial status, he plans to do more work in that field. |
Russell Fink Gallery |