Draft:David Pelbam

David Pelbam was an artist who painted mostly through the 1950s after fleeing WW2. He settled in Rhode Island where he started to paint sea faring persons such as dock workers, merchants, fishermen, and most notably sea captains. His captain paintings are highly desired by collectors and traders in antique paintings and vary in size and quality. The original wood worked frames that often accompany the pieces truly make them one of a kind. They are considered more valuable with the original frames. One of his paintings famously hangs in the bar office of Paddy’s Pub in the hit Show ‘Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’

Most interesting about David Pelbam’s work is that he painted almost exclusively himself in all of his adaptations of sea captain and other trades. His self portraits vary and age, maturity, and wisdom depending on David’s intentions with each painting. His enigmatic stare in all of his paintings draw the viewer in to hear the story of the captain’s sea trials.

It is widely believed that David sold his paintings to various department and home décor stores to earn a living after starting a new life in The United States. Various more custom paintings that are larger and more detailed have sold at auction and demand a premium over the standard production paintings. He sold commission paintings to people who appreciated his work at the time and these pieces are considered exceedingly rare. He also painted himself as a rabbi in many renditions of his work.

The largest collection in the World of David Pelbam is housed in Saint Petersburg Florida where over 60 paintings hang in one room as a collage.

Not much is known about David’s family or legacy. His legacy lives on in the old wise stares of his famous eyes.