Born Philadelphia, PA., 1921
Ray Ellis attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. His first one-man show was held in 1947 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
After serving four years in the Coast Guard during WWII, Ellis founded his own advertising agency in New Jersey and New York, but continued to paint in his spare time. During this period he was elected to the American Watercolor Society, and his works were widely exhibited and received numerous honors.
In 1969 Ellis was able to devote all his time to painting. In 1974 he moved south to Hilton Head Island, SC and then to Savannah, GA. In 1989 Ellis re-settled in the north where he maintains a home and studio on Martha’s Vineyard with his wife Teddi.
In the early 80’s, Ellis and Walter Cronkite collaborated on a series of fine art books which celebrate America’s coastlines: South by Southeast, North by Northeast, and Westwind. In 1992, Ellis authored The Spirit of Golf with golf journalist Ben Wright.
Paintings of Savannah and Martha’s Vineyard have been published in separate volumes: Ray Ellis’ Savannah & the Lowcountry, and Martha’s Vineyard an Affectionate Memoir. Most recently published are Coastal Images of America and The Road to Ballybunion.
Ellis’s paintings are included in major museums and private collections throughout the country. His paintings hang in our American Embassies in Geneva, Vienna, London, and more recently, Brussels. In 1999, he was commissioned by the White House to do a series of paintings of the Rose Garden. In 2004, the Telfair Museum of Savannah, GA exhibited a major retrospective of his work.
