"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 LaBonte Jersey Shore Publications is pleased to bring you, "Dick LaBonte, Paintings of the Jersey Shore and More." 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 LaBonte. Here are all of LaBonte'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 LaBonte'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 LaBonte's art and life. LaBonte's text is also rich with historical facts about the Jeresy Shore and the locations he paints. LaBonte'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 LaBonte 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. Dick LaBonte was born in 1921 at Battle Creek, Michigan and grew up in Wilmette, Illinois. His writing and artistic skills were developed at New Trier High School, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (where he studied cartooning), and Colgate University. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as commanding officer of a submarine chaser in the South Pacific. Mr. LaBonte's postwar business career included twenty-eight years in managerial positions at McGraw-Hill Publishing Company in New York, among them Director of Sales Promotion and Advertising for "Business Week" magazine. Seeking a different outlet for his creative skills, he took early retirement in his fifties and began a second career as a painter. Using a neo-primitive style, he became well-known for his nostalgic, period paintings of the New Jersey Shore, where he and his family had spent many years as summer, then year-'round, residents. Dick LaBonte's paintings have been reproduced in limited editions and are widely distributed. His best-known and most popular work is a fantasy titled, "Cocktails At The White House," in which all of the Presidents and First Ladies are gathered at a party on the White House lawn and balconies. A print of this painting was presented to President and Mrs. Clinton by his college classmates in 1993 and hung in the private quarters of the executive mansion. "At the Shore with Dick LaBonte," his limited edition collection of thirty-two paintings, was self-published in 1993. He is also author of "In Old Bay Head" (1986), a photographic history of the town, and co-author of "100 Years at the Head of the Bay" (1988), a history of the Bay Head Yacht Club, where he served as a trustee in the 1980s. The artist also served two terms as a councilman in Bay Head. He is a member of the Ocean County Artists Guild and had a one-man show there in 1990. In 1999 and 2001, twenty-one of his paintings appeared in the books "To The Shore Once More, Volumes I & II" (Jersey Shore Publications), the collections of essays and poems by Frank Finale and paintings by leading artists of the Jersey Shore. Dick LaBonte's paintings and prints are sold in galleries and shops along the eastern seaboard from Virginia to Cape Cod. The artist lives in Bay Head, New Jersey with his wife of fifty-nine years, Katie. The Anchor & Palette Art Gallery in Bay Head, New Jersey represents his work and is owned by his daughter, Anne LaBonte Neff. Used Book in Good Condition