Coming Summer 2026
Robert Lee Eskridge:
Affable Artist, Author, and Adventurer in Tahiti, Hawaii, Brazil, and Beyond
By CJ Cook
In this richly illustrated biography, C. J. Cook reveals the remarkable life of Robert Lee Eskridge—painter, writer, and adventurer whose career spanned five decades and three oceans. Trained in Paris under Cubist master André Lhote, Eskridge carried the bold geometry of modernism into the South Pacific, blending Art Deco structure with the living rhythms of Polynesia.
Four journeys to Tahiti inspired his classic book Manga Reva: The Forgotten Islands (1931), where Art, travel, and firsthand cultural observation come together in vivid prose and illustration. In Hawaiʻi, Eskridge became a visual historian of island life before statehood, painting surfers, fishermen, paniolos, and hula dancers with clarity and respect.
From Tahiti to Hawaiʻi, Brazil, and beyond, Eskridge transformed travel into Art and curiosity into story. This engaging biography restores his place in Pacific art history and invites readers to rediscover an artist who captured the spirit of the islands with insight, adventure, and humanity.
344 pages and 509 images
"Robert Lee Eskridge painted Hawai'i at a pivotal moment, when its landscapes and daily rhythms remained intact yet stood on the brink of change. His contemporaries valued his work, and today, a new generation of collectors seeks it out for the way it bridges Hawai'i's past and present."
"For collectors, artists, and those who steward Art across generations, this biography offers more than history. It offers understanding."
"Eskridge is a highly regarded artist in Art Deco in Hawai'i and Polynesia. With robust color design and angularity to design forms, his work is outstanding in the art world and collectors' circles."
"Eskridge's work is beautiful, unmistakably influenced by Art Deco, and crafted with an honesty that honors Hawai'i, its people, and the spirit of the islands."