An Eye for the Coast: The Maritime and Monhegan Island Photographs of Eric Hudson (Paperback)

~ (Photographer), Earle G., Jr. Shettleworth (Author), W. H. Bunting (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...embraced every aspect of Monhegan life...may constitute the best surviving pictorial documentation of particular sailing rigs." -- Boston Globe

"...pictures...clear, expressive, and explanatory...The text...is superb...book for looking at, reading, and, above all, savoring." -- Maine Antiques Digest

1999 Winner -- Captain W.J. Lewis Parker Award

Product Description

Weather-beaten fish houses on the waterfront, the village homes and summer boarding houses, the majestic cliffs of the outer island and the busy harbor--these are the Monhegan Island scenes photographed in the late 1890s by photographer Eric Hudson. His works, in 125 duotone photographs, are featured in "An Eye for the Coast", with captions and text by Shettleworth and Bunting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers; 1st edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884481743
• ISBN-13: 978-0884481744
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,938,597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughfully Presented Collection of Specilized Photographs, March 6, 1999

By A Customer

AN EYE FOR THE COAST: THE MARITIME AND MONHEGAN ISLAND PHOTOGRAPHS OF ERIC HUDSON is a work (and a labor of love by its editors)which will be primarily of interest to specialists, including those interested in small ship design and in the history of maritime New England at the turn of the century. The books consists of roughly 100 glass-plate photographs of boats, fisherfolk and shoreline scenes taken along the Massachusetts Coast and on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine between l890 and l920. Clearly, Hudson intended to create a photographic record in his plates, and for the most part, that's what the viewer gets. While much of the subject matter is interesting and informative (the extended, businesslike captions are well done), only a few of the pictures have a significant artistic quotient. Unfortunately, the quality of the reproductions in this book is not very good, and many of the images are grey, washed out or lacking in contrast. This may be attributable in part to the poor condition of the original plates and also to the failure of the publisher to use a coated stock. For an example of a similar work with much better photographs and superb reproductions, see A PACIFIC LEGACY: A CENTURY OF MARITIME PHOTOGRAPHY 1850-1950 published in l991. Although they are represented in a number of museum collections, I am not familiar with Hudson's paintings. However, one example reproduced in color on the back cover of AN EYE FOR THE COAST suggests that he may have been a far better painter than he was a photographer. For another review of this book with a different perspective, see page 58 of the January, l999 issue of ANTIQUES Magazine.