Lot 442: BEN NASON MARTHA'S VINEYARD. Circa 1945.

42x28 inches.
Condition B-: restoration and overpainting in margins and corners; paper loss in image; faded.
At the end of World War II, the New Haven Railroad launched a campaign to attract vacationers to New England. The simple images of brightly-colored gingerbread-style houses and small waterfront fishing shacks do much to promote the island as an ideal family vacation spot. The railroad actually delivered passengers to Woods Hole, where a ferry transported the travellers to the island itself. The enormous figurehead that bisects the image is a romanticized reminder of the whaling ships that populated the island's history.