Block Island sits off the coast of Rhode Island, and for Sperry Andrews it became a second home ground. The second volume of Beauty to Embrace in an Afternoon gathers his island work into eleven chapters: Town and Old Harbor, New Harbor, Crescent Beach, Bluffs, Vistas, Ponds, Spring House, Homes, Farms, Industrials and Bygone.

That list alone says something about how he worked. He did not just paint the postcard views. He painted the working parts of the island too, the industrial buildings and the farms, and he gave a whole chapter to things that are now gone.

Painting beside him

The most vivid picture of Andrews on the island comes from the painter K. Knapp, who wrote in 2007 about an invitation in the early 1970s:

On a fine summer day in the early 1970s, Sperry Andrews, who had painted at this spot for many years, invited me to come along and paint with him. This was truly an honor, a golden opportunity to paint with one of the great artists of the island.

Knapp remembered him as "an inspiring teacher" who "shared so many valuable thoughts and ideas about painting," and who did it "with great humor and a love of life."

That generosity shows up in other remembrances too. His friend J. Hubbard recalled that Sperry "taught me how to stretch a canvas" and "advised me on materials," and called him "a hilarious storyteller and the best of companions."

A view through the window

One of the island paintings illustrated on his Wikipedia article is Crescent Beach, Block Island, Tower View. It frames cottages, dunes and a band of sea through a window, with a dark mass of pine in the foreground. The composition is tight and structured, and you can feel the influence of the Cubist ideas he absorbed at the Art Students League, held in check by what he actually saw.

The island remembers

The island has kept his work in view. He was shown at the Jessie Edwards Gallery on Block Island in 2011 and 2012, and at the Block Island Historical Society from 2012 to 2015. The second volume now collects that body of work in one place for the first time.

Explore the Block Island gallery chapter by chapter, or click Block Island on the map to see the island's work in one panel.