-Award-Winning Author / Curator-
James A. Craig
NON-FICTION
With over two decades of experience working beside many of America’s premier art historians, coupled with the dogged determination of a gumshoe detective and the writing style of a novelist, James A. Craig writes more than mere biographies of American maritime artists. He pens compelling, page turning works that are as entertaining as they are informative.
Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth Century America
ISBN: 1.59629.090.0
From bold canvas’ depicting storm-tossed seas to tranquil images of harbors bathed in the roseate hues of sunset… from studies of bustling wharves teeming with activity to sketches of regal sail ships lying quietly at anchor, the artwork of Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1864) was a triumph, succeeding in capturing the atmosphere, character, and romance of mid-nineteenth century coastal New England.
With a vast assortment of previously unknown documents, personal testimonies, and artwork by Lane and his students, Craig has provided “the first glimpse behind the canvas, beyond the career and into the soul of Fitz H. Lane.”
Frank Vining Smith: Maritime Painting in the 20th Century
ISBN: 1-55595-329-8
Lauded in his day as “the ultimate in marine painting,” and “America’s most widely known painter of old sailing vessels,” maritime artist Frank Vining Smith (1879-1967) enjoyed a critical and monetary success unlike most artists of the early 20th century. Exhibited coast to coast in America’s most influential galleries and collected by such captains of industry as Josiah K. Lilly Jr. of Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, museum founder Julian de Cordova, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the maritime art of Frank Vining Smith has in time become part of America’s collective consciousness.
With 172 pages and 167 illustrations (85 in full color) Craig illuminates Smith's life and work with considerable skill, organizing the precious ephemeral remains of a long life (autobiographical notes, sketchbooks, photographs, and published works) and studying a trove of surviving work.
Maritime Portsmouth: The Sawtelle Collection
ISBN: 978-0-915819-38-6
Edited by Dr. Richard M. Candee, Professor Emeritus of American and New England Studies at Boston University, Craig’s essays detailing the artistic relationship of painter/author George S. Wasson and woodcarver John Haley Bellamy shed new light on the previously unknown artistic collaborations between these two extraordinary men.
At 214 pages replete with full-color illustrations, Maritime Portsmouth is both a breathtaking overview of four centuries of naval history and marine art, and a touching tribute to Joseph Sawtelle and his vision for a maritime museum in the heart of the celebrated seaport of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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American Eagle: The Bold Art & Brash Life of John Haley Bellamy
ISBN:
American Eagle debunks myths and dispels the mysteries that surround the life of America’s greatest woodcarver, John Haley Bellamy (1836-1914), with every turn of the page. Offering groundbreaking new insight into the maritime world of Bellamy and the history of the Piscataqua region, this 240-page, lushly illustrated biography sheds new light on this Seacoast luminary and his maritime world.