The Jersey Shore’s Premier Folk Artist —
Dick LaBonté
“The mission I undertook was to evoke the imagined seashore of simpler and gentler times, when the girls on the beach were clothed in total mystery, with their hair piled tauntingly high. When diversions were quiet and kids grew up with nature. And everyone moved slowly. And the sun was probably sunnier. And water probably tasted like water.” — Dick LaBonté
This coffee table book features more than one hundred sixty paintings, vignettes, and portraits by the Jersey Shore's premier, neo-primitive folk artist, Dick LaBonté.
Here are all of LaBonté's nostalgic paintings of turn-of-the-century and present day life at the Jersey Shore featuring Bay Head, Mantoloking, Point Pleasant Beach, Barnegat Bay, Spring Lake, Sea Girt, Manasquan, Sea Bright, and more locations—plus many other scenes taking place in America or the artist's imagination.
Fans who have seen only a few of LaBonté's paintings in the past will be amazed at the scope of his body of work presented in this book and realize all the beauty and fun they've been missing!
Charming and informative descriptions of each image by the artist, a biography, plus a foreword and introduction to the paintings will further your understanding of LaBonté's art and life. LaBonté's text is also rich with historical facts about the Jeresy Shore and the locations he paints.
LaBonté's paintings transport the viewer to simpler times whose denizens are engagingly portrayed in the innocent enjoyment of a sunny day. When you look at a Dick LaBonté painting, you are seeing a story begun by the artist to be finished by you, the viewer. You'll find a myriad of life's scenes...a playful expression, a wayward glance, an intense conversation...work and play, flirters and lovers, happiness and sadness...all of these and hundreds more stories can be found, all in his unique neo-primitive folk style, all with a careful eye for composition and color.
Full of heart and good nature, this book will charm and delight readers of all ages and bring many hours of warmth, humor, and pleasure. It is a tour de force of pictorial stories and style—about the Jersey Shore and America—by an artist whose view of life will be enjoyed for generations to come.
