Massey Exhibitions and Highlights (2003-2004)

The American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA), a non-profit organization, was founded in 1978 to "recognize and promote marine art and history, and to encourage cooperation among artists, historians, marine enthusiasts, and others engaged in activities related to marine art and maritime history." As an Artist Member since 1978 and a Fellow in The American Society of Marine Artists since 1985, Raymond Massey's work has been exhibited since 1978 in all the Society's national exhibitions which are hosted by major museums across the United States every two to three years. National and regional ASMA exhibitions are the ASMA's format for educating and introducing the public to contemporary marine artists and their diverse styles and subject matter, which are derived from a long tradition of marine art dating back to Colonial America and to earlier British and Dutch models and ship portraiture.

In September through November of 2001, Ray's painting, "Hawaiian Sleigh Ride" depicting the French Captain, Rear Admiral Jean-Francois Galup, Comte De La Perouse's two ships, Astrolabe and L'Bousole racing along the southern coast of Maui in 1786, was exhibited in the Society's 12th National Exhibition which opened at The Cape Museum of Fine art in Dennis, MA, then traveled to the First U.S.A. Riverfront Arts Center with a companion exhibition at the downtown gallery of the Delaware Art Museum, both in Wilmington. The August 2001 American Artist Magazine also featured Ray’s painting from exhibition as illustration in a promotional article for this 12th National Exhibition.

Since Raymond Massey's last opening at the Ship Store Galleries in April 2003, his works have been exhibited in several other major East Coast museums and appeared in several publications. From August 2003 through April 4, 2004 Ray's painting,"The Storm that Killed A God" depicting Captain James Cook's ships, The H.M.S. Discovery and Resolution and caught in a violent storm off the coast of Hawaii in 1779, a storm which precipitated events that led to Cook's death, was part of a traveling exhibition of works by 23 of the Fellows of the AMA. This exhibit, "The Everlasting Sea" which featured works from past marine artists owned by each museum along with contemporary paintings by living marine artists was a visual feast, a pictorial essay on the traditions of marine art. It opened in Newport, RI, at The Newport Art Museum in August 2003, traveling to The Maine Maritime Museum which opened November 1, and finally to the Connecticut River Museum for a January 2004 opening.

Also in 2004, Ray's paintings "Winter" and "Summer," celebrating the Humpback Whales in their major habitats off the NaPali Coast of Kauai and Glacier Bay, Alaska, were both exhibited in the 13th National Exhibition of the ASMA at the Vero Beach Museum of Art in Vero Beach, Florida. The museum graciously stated that the attendance for the opening of this museum exhibition on April 10, was the largest turnout for any exhibition the Vero Beach Art Museum had ever hosted - which attests to the growing popularity of and interest in contemporary marine art. Sea History Magazine published a review of the Vero Beach 13th National Exhibition in its Autumn 2004 edition, focusing on the fact that the exhibitions of maritime art mounted by the ASMA have proven to be of such artistic merit and popularity, that major national museums from the Fry Art Museum in Seattle, WA to the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida have been regular hosts for these national exhibitions since 1997.

In 2003 Massey's paintings "Call to War', the USS Constitution Leaving Honolulu 1845, "Na Pali: First Passage', depicting the KING GEORGE and QUEEN CHARLOTTE sailing off the NaPali Coast of Kauai were published in J. Russell Jinishian's Bound for Blue Water, Contemporary American Marine Artist Mr Jinishian paid tribute to Massey’s work writing, "None of the nineteenth-century trade routes are steeped in as much romance as those of China and the South Seas - from the untouched Polynesian atolls to the exotic ports of the Far East... But no twentieth-century artist, until Ray Massey, ever made a through and complete study of the China trade. The twenty five painting series he completed in 1990 covers in meticulous detail the China Trade's major vessels and ports, including the famous clippers Flying Cloud, Challenger and Sea Serpent and their ports of call -Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and stops in between." This same China trade collection of Massey's was first exhibited at and published as limited edition prints by The Ship Store Galleries on Kauai in December 1990; Massey's first major exhibition in Hawaii.

Known for his ardent historic research and attention to accurate historic detail, Massey is honored to have two of his paintings, " Carrying Coals from Newcastle" (depicting the Freelove one of the ships on which James Cook sailed in his youth) and "Playing on Lono's Island" (depicting the arrival of Captain Cook's HMS Resolution and Discovery in Kealakekua Bay in 1779) in The Captain Cook Encyclopaedia written and edited by John Robson and published in 2004 by Chatham Publishing in London.

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