City Center Gallery Fayetteville, North Carolina NC Bob Rector art classic automobiles cars boats WWII aircraft art

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      Bob Rector was born in Michigan, served in the Air Force as a remote-control turret mechanic on the B-29 bomber, and then studied at the Miezinger School of Art in Detroit. In 1953, he joined an advertising firm in Detroit that employed some of the foremost automobile illustrators in the world. Rector worked there with famous commercial artists like Mark English and Bernie Fuchs. Many of Rector’s car advertisements appeared in magazines including The Saturday Evening Post and Life in the late 50's and 60's.
      Twenty years later, at the top of his game, Rector left the corporate world to turn his gift for automobile illustration into fine art. He moved to California where many of his paintings of classic automobiles, seascapes, and portraits were sold in fine art galleries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Laguna Beach. Collectors include actors Andy Griffith and Jack Palance, baseball great Reggie Jackson, and aquatic muralist Bob Wyland.
      After 20 years in California, Rector moved to North Carolina to be closer to his oldest son, then a Captain in Special Forces at Fort Bragg. He landed first in Southern Pines, where he opened a small storefront studio and did numerous paintings of famous NASCAR racing cars. Two years later he moved to Fayetteville and began getting commissions with the help of Hank and Diane Parfitt and City Center Gallery.
      Rector’s subjects include classic automobiles, portraits, vintage WWII airplanes, and cityscapes of Fayetteville. Examples of his work may be found at the RBC Centura Bank Headquarters, the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, and the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau. A reproduction of his portrait of former Mayor J.L. Dawkins hangs in the U.S. Post Office building, named for the late Mayor Dawkins.
      Rector’s series of warplanes are currently featured at the Fayetteville Museum of Art in conjunction with the NASA Art Program traveling exhibit and the festival of Flight Celebration.
      Uncluttered backgrounds, dramatic use of light and shadow, and a knack for transferring the unique features of any subject to canvas with uncanny realism characterize Rector’s work.

City Center Gallery -1999