Eric Hudson

By 1900, seven of thirty-three houses and cottages on Monhegan Island, belonged to "summer people,"  one of whom was Eric Hudson (1864–1932) who first sailed into Monhegan harbor in 1897, on his way from Bar Harbor to Boston. 

Attracted by the rugged landscape, Hudson returned the following year and purchased land that had been part of the old Trefethren Flake Yard, property that belonged to one of the island's old fishing families. The artist immediately began producing his signature sailboat scenes, first with an Impressionist palette and later in a darker, more romantic style. 

Hudson also produced marine photographs, recording boats and harbor scenes from Venice to Monhegan. Some of the posed photographs served as studies for Hudson's paintings, but he took others to capture the hard work entailed in fishing under sail and by hand. His images of local fishermen provide some of the most detailed documentation available of island life at the turn of the century.