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John O'Brien passed away peacefully in his home in Petaluma, California, with his beloved wife at his side, Sunday, October 24, 2004 at the age of 53. He was a devoted and loving father, world recognized artist and a supporter of all things Irish. He sustained a remarkable and enduring love of life, with an eye for beauty he could express in his varied artwork. After being diagnosed with malignant melanoma in Spring 2004, he continued to paint and teach art classes until the disease and treatment made it too difficult to continue. He fought it bravely, valiantly and died quietly at peace with the world.
John studied at the prestigious Art Student’s League in New York where he subsequently maintained a studio in Greenwich Village as well as in San Francisco and Paris. His academic achievement, combined with his eye for beauty and admiration for the American Impressionists, can be seen in every painting. The interiors and exteriors are wholly imaginary, enticing and inviting the viewer “to wish they were there.” He has been honored with many one-man shows throughout the United States. His works are in many private collections in the U.S. and Europe. He was commissioned to paint murals, portraits of people of all ages, and illustrations in addition to his highly successful series of romantic interiors and enticing European style exteriors.
John’s artwork conveys a series of mystery and romance seldom found in contemporary art. With exquisite craftsmanship, poetic ideals, and a modern awareness, he created a unique style, which has come to be known as “contemporary romantic realism”. His passion for France, Italy and Ireland can be seen in the romantic settings of elegant interiors, European street scenes, and neighborhood cafes and pubs. Ravensburger HistoryRavensburger Spieleverlag GmbH is a German game company and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named "Journey around the world".
At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, Art Instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial Patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well as Russia.
Before the First World War, Ravensburger had around 800 products. The publishing house was damaged during the Second World War and continued to produce games in the years of the reconstruction. The company focused on children's games and books and specialized books for art, architecture and hobbies, and from 1962 grew strongly. The company started to produce jigsaw puzzle games in 1964, and in the same year opened subsidiaries in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 1977 the company split into a book publishing arm and a game publishing arm.
Today there are approximately 1,800 available books and 850 games as well as puzzles, hobby products and CD-ROM titles at Ravensburger and its subsidiaries, which include Alea for "hobby and ardent game players" and FX Schmid for games and children's books. Ravensburger products are exported to more than fifty countries.
In September 2010, Ravensburger broke Educa's record for the world's largest jigsaw puzzle of 24,000 pieces. Ravensburger's new puzzle design by late pop artist Keith Haring titled, 'Keith Haring: Double Retrospect' breaks the Guinness Book of World Records measuring 17' × 6' built from 32,256 pieces and comes with its own dolly cart for toting. |
