Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

Jay Connaway

A student of the sky, waves, and snow-covered hills of Maine and Vermont, Jay Connaway belonged to the generation that presented the region as timeless and quiet in the face of modernity and ensured that the image of New England maintained a prominent role in the American imagination. 

Connaway enjoyed a reputation as one of the most promising young marine painters of the 1920s. Prolific, well-known, and highly regarded both as an artist and a teacher, Connaway moved to Maine in 1922 and took up permanent residence on Monhegan Island with his wife Louise in 1931. For 17 years, Connaway observed and painted the ocean and its many moods in the tradition of Winslow Homer and Rockwell Kent before moving to Vermont in 1947 where he lived out his life.

Born in Indiana, Connaway studied in New York City at the Arts Students League under William Merritt Chase before interrupting his studies to volunteer for service in the First World War. Upon discharge from the army, Connaway studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts before returning to the United States and settling in New England. Sticking to his guns as abstraction gained in popularity in the years after World War II, Connaway’s bold brushwork and subtle palate served as hallmarks of his unique style of masculine Impressionism.

Connaway enjoyed close to 90 one-man shows in his lifetime. He was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1933 and a full academician in 1943. His work was exhibited at the leading galleries of his day, including Macbeth, Vose, Kennedy, and Doll & Richards. In his own lifetime Connaway’s vision of the landscape of New England could be found hanging at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Andrew Winter

A native of Sindi, Estonia, Andrew Winter (1893-1948) spent his early years as a mate on a variety of American and British ships, an experience that intensified his appreciation for marine scenery and ways of life.

Following his seafaring career, Winter enrolled at the National Academy of Design in 1921 and continued his artistic studies in 1925 on a traveling scholarship to Paris and Rome. 

He exhibited extensively from the 1920s until the 1950s, consistently earning medals and awards, and became a member of numerous artistic societies, including the National Academy and the American Watercolor Society. During his career, Winter discovered a constant source of inspiration in the remote and rugged scenery of Monhegan Island, a place he continued to visit throughout his lifetime. 

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter

S. P. Rolt Triscott: Monhegan Artist and Photographer

Rediscovering S. P.  Rolt Triscott, by Richard Malone and Earle Shettleworth, delves into the life of watercolorist Samuel Peter Rolt Triscott (1846–25) who, in 1902, moved permanently to Monhegan Island, becoming the first artist to live there year-round. 

His biography is accompanied by 50 paintings and more than 60 black and white photographs of Monhegan, printed from his glass plates. A classic nineteenth-century watercolorist in the English tradition, Triscott continued to paint, but also did photography, painted in oils, and produced hand-tinted photographs. He took delight in his garden and his cats, served tea in the afternoon to a few select friends, and gradually severed his ties with the cosmopolitan art world in favor of life on a rugged island ten miles out to sea. 

He continued painting in the style which suited him best, but as public taste turned to Impressionism, Expressionism, and Modernism, his masterful landscapes and beautifully composed studies were largely ignored by the larger art world. In the years following his death, many of his paintings were given away or sold for just a few dollars, but some remained in islanders’ homes and he was considered by some locals to have been one of the most important members of Monhegan’s celebrated art community. 

In the 1970s Richard Malone began collecting Triscott’s paintings and undertook researching his life. His biographical essay on Triscott forms the core of this book, with 50 paintings shown in full color. More than 60 black and white photographs of Monhegan, printed from Triscott’s glass plates, are accompanied by an essay by Earle Shettleworth on Triscott’s photography.