John Severson, RIP

2017-05-29

 @surfline.com

By Drew Kampion

John Severson, RIP

 

Legendary Surf Publisher and Artist Passes Away at his Home on Maui

 

John Severson, founder of Surfer Magazine, died peacefully in his sleep on Friday, May 26. He was 83. 

John Severson is best remembered as the founder of Surfer, but before he was a publisher, John made his mark in surf movies, playing a major role in elevating the medium to new levels of action, humor and drama. Born and raised in Pasadena and San Clemente, California, Severson was a creative type, an art major who dared to paint an abstract scene of the San Clemente Pier and beach, with bebop surfers and pointy little surfboards. It was the fall of 1955 -- a pivotal day for surf culture. You could say it was the start of surf art.   

Severson had always been a multifaceted artist. He was a high school newspaper editor, hobby photographer, prolific painter, cartoonist and art teacher. And when he found himself in the army, stationed in Hawaii, he made a surf movie. Between sessions on behalf of the army surf team, he filmed the North Shore and Makaha action of the winter of 1957-'58. This footage became his first film, Surf.


Out of the army and back in Dana Point, Severson parlayed the profits of Surf to make Surf Safari. To promote his next film, Surf Fever, which debuted in 1960, he published a garage-built "First Annual Surf Photo Book." Titled The Surfer, the magazine was filled with screen-grabs from his 16mm footage and still photos of the state of the art in California and Hawaii.   

The Surfer was such a success that Severson decided to continue, launching The Surfer Quarterly, and it grew with surfing. It morphed into Surfer Bi-Monthly and finally Surfer. Although other surf publications entered the field over the years, Severson had won pole position and Surfer was the generally recognized "bible of the sport."
"Before John Severson, there was really no surf art, no surf magazines, no real surf films, no surfwear industry, no pro surfing, no Surfrider Foundation, no surf culture as we know it."
 

After a decade in the magazine business, Severson returned to filmmaking with the 1970 film, Pacific Vibrations. The film reflected Severson's growing sense of what was being lost: "Perhaps what started out to be a very personal statement about surfers and their harmony with the earth will remain just that. But it is more important that [surfers] wake up before there is no place left for anyone to surf or enjoy the simple beauty of a breaking wave. And most important that we all share those Pacific vibrations." [Surfer, July 1970]   

When President Richard Nixon and his entourage of bodyguards moved in next door to his home at Cotton’s Point in 1969, Severson became overwhelmed and opted for change. He sold Surfer in 1972 and moved with his wife and two daughters to Maui, where he resumed his passionate pursuit of photography and painting. He surfed and then started windsurfing. He designed and launched Wind Surf magazine and, for several years, contributed art and photos, making it the leader in its field.   

The longboard renaissance of the '90s and the accompanying era of nostalgia brought renewed interest and appreciation to Severson's surf art. His oil and watercolor paintings (as well as his block prints) grew in demand, and he designed hundreds of prints for Kahala's Artist Series Hawaiian shirts. (To see samples of his work, visit: surferart.com).   

Before John Severson, there was really no surf art, no surf magazines, no real surf films, no surfwear industry, no pro surfing, no Surfrider Foundation, no surf culture as we know it. In a very large sense, he made it all happen by synthesizing the sport of surfing into various expressions of his art.   

"I always daydreamed real big," Severson admits. "I was the guy who stood up there and just nailed them over the fence and pitched no-hitters and ran for touchdowns -- I could just daydream the biggest dreams."   

And for John, those dreams came true.