Ray G. Ellis (1921–2013)

There are books about Martha's Vineyard where the illustrations are the volume's entire reason for existing (Allen Whiting: A Painter at Sixty), books where the illustrations are an essential, but subordinate, complement to the text (the On the Vineyard trilogy), and books where the text and illustrations are equally significant (Henry Beetle Hough's collaborations with Alfred Eisenstaedt in Martha's Vineyard and Alison Shaw in Remembrance and Light). This compilation falls, for all practical purposes, in the first category.

The text by Ralph Graves is serviceable, but no more than that. It's distilled -- as Graves notes at the outset -- from existing sources, and bears the mark of those origins. It adds no new insights into the history of the Vineyard, and Graves' attempts to connect the dots between the bits and pieces of that history that he's chosen to highlight often lead him to conclusions at odds with reality. The best parts of the text are a series of two-page spreads in which he reprints, in narrative form, the text of conversations with long-time Vineyarders like long-time Chappaquiddick resident Edo Potter and Menemsha fish-market owner Everett Poole.

Nobody who picks up this book, however, is likely to do it for the text. The real attraction is scores of paintings by Ray Ellis, one of the most commercially successful painters in the history of the Vineyard. Ellis's long association with Edgartown and fondness for landscapes and classic New England buildings is evident throughout the book, as is his trademark style. The book is both a solid introduction to his art and an easily acquired keepsake for those who enjoy it.… (meer)

Ray Ellis is credited with being an award winning artist who has exhibited throughout the US and in London, and as having contributed paintings to a number of books.

With over 150 full colour plates of the artist's paintings of the American coast from marshland to major built-up areas, and including many seascapes, this is a beautifully illustrated book. The accompanying text provides a history of the coast, both in geological and social terms with accounts of the early settlers as well as of today's residents.

The vast majority of the images a full page in size, and many of them cross the gutter providing an even larger image. The paintings include watercolours ans oils, and there are the occasional close-up details. The pictures are well captioned with size, date and a brief comment.… (meer)