Friends in a Boat to Brimstone Island 1

Friends in a Boat to Brimstone Island 1

Friends sit chatting on Jim Brown's lobster boat in Penobscot Bay, Maine in 1970. They were headed to Brimstone Island for a picnic. Friends on the boat included Betsy Warner, on left, Martha Washburn, next, and Donald Roberts, center. Elin Elisofon is siting on the deck looking at her dad Eliot with the camera.

Donald Roberts, born in New Hampshire in 1923, was a lithographer, painter, scuptor, and Professor Emeritus of Art at Ohio University. He served in World War II as a medic and earned degrees in art from Rhode Island School of Design and Ohio University. He married June Carver Branham Roberts, a watercolorist and botanical illustrator, in 1949. For 50 years they spent summers in Rabbit Lodge, an old farmhouse on Vinalhaven Island. Believing that having access to original works was important for learning and artistic development, Donald was instrumental in building Ohio University's print collection.

When Photographer Eliot Elisofon was not traveling the world taking photos for LIFE Magazine, he came to Vinalhaven, Maine to rest and recoup. Eliot bought a farmhouse near Crockett Cove on Vinalhaven in 1941, built by Joel and Mary Jane Philbrook in 1843.
Daughter Elin writes, “My father always said his favorite place on earth was Vinalhaven and he meant it. Wherever he was, he was counting the days until he could return to the island. Here he would 'recharge his batteries' from grueling trips to Africa, Asia, the Pacific, or from battles with the publishers and editors he had to constantly prod into sharing his passion and understanding his vision. In Vinalhaven he could relax, soak up the beauty of the place, plant trees, flowers, and vegetables, paint in his studio, cook, and develop the lifelong friendships he treasured."
Elisofon, Elin. FEAST. (Vinalhaven, Maine: April, 1992)
These images are personal photographs taken by Eliot Elisofon on Vinalhaven and were not published during his lifetime.