Mentor Huebner (American. 1917 - 2001). Mentor Huebner was a Post Impressionist Painter, a prolific Artist, and spent his entire life creating Art. It was the basic force of his life. He painted for the love of it. He always felt like painting. He was never motivated by any thought of Sales, and he would never sell a painting to anyone he didn't like.
Some collectors succeeded in purchasing his work and some didn't. making money selling his art wasn't important to Mentor. He often said he didn't need to make money selling his art because working in the Motion Picture Industry as a Conceptual Designer, afforded him the luxury of being independent. He'd say, "I'm my own art benefactor."
Mentor's feelings about a potential collector influenced him more than any profit he might gain. A few rejected collectors sometimes became a little upset. When it became clear that Mentor didn't 'feel' like selling a painting to someone, it became a little embarrassing. If they were a professional collector or a personal shopper made little difference to him. Throughout the years, it wasn't unusual for Mentor to freely give away a painting valued at several thousands ~ because he 'felt' like it.
Now that Mentor is physically gone I'm left with an awesome task of trying to 'know' how he would have felt about someone. So I will have to take it personally as Mentor did.
As a Plein Aire Painter, Mentor spent his lifetime painting Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes and Mountain ranges throughout Los Angeles, up and down California, throughout most of the Continental United States, and wherever a movie production company sent him on location.
