Earlier this year, art biographer CJ Cook sent me copies of three thick, heavily illustrated books about artists who popularized the South Seas lifestyle through their work. The most recent book, and therefore the one I reviewed first, was Leeteg: Babes, Bars, Beaches, & Black Velvet Art, about "rascal" artist Edgar Leeteg. Now, it's time to examine one of his earlier works: Tyree: Artist of the South Pacific, which introduces readers to Kentucky native Ralph Burke Tyree.

According to Cook, Tyree was the most prolific portrait artist of the South Pacific people of the 20th century.

A budding artist in his youth, Tyree joined the U.S. Marines shortly after the onset of World War II, and his posting to the island of American Samoa during World War II had a profound influence on the direction of his life after the war. His artistic talents quickly took him off the front lines, earning him a much safer job on base where he painted morale-boosting murals and portraits of officers and their wives, as well as flying reconnaissance missions and drawing maps of the region. (Although fully trained for combat, Tyree's assignment probably saved him from death or disfigurement, which was the fate suffered by many of his fellow marines.)

When the war ended and he returned to civilian life, he wooed and won the heart of Marguerite "Margo" Almeida, a dear friend from high school with whom he had maintained a regular correspondence throughout his deployment. They married in 1945 and together had six sons and a daughter, many of whom followed their father into art and art-adjacent careers. The book carries readers through the various places they lived -- primarily California, Hawaii and Guam -- and examines the evolution of Tyree's artistic styles.

As he did in Leeteg, Cook provides a ton of detail to put Tyree's life, his influences and his work in a proper cultural and historical context. But, while Leeteg's life was defined by fighting, drinking and sex, Tyree lived a more restrained -- and arguably happier -- life. A devoted family man, Tyree moved in some of the same circles as Leeteg and they lived in some of the same locations, but there is no indication they ever met. (Scholars who describe Leeteg as Tyree's mentor are wrong, Cook insists.)

But, like Leeteg, Tyree was obsessed with his art and devoted to revealing the native charms of the South Pacific through his painting. Although he sometimes painted on canvas or boards, he eventually developed Leeteg's passion for painting on black velvet.

His work coincided with -- and in many ways sparked -- the public's infatuation with Tiki art, South Pacific ocean and jungle settings, and seductive wahines (Polynesian for "women"). Like Leeteg, many of Tyree's paintings were sensual nudes, and many of them adorned mid-century, Tiki-themed bars and restaurants.

Toward the end of his life, Tyree's focus changed -- fewer women, more at-risk animals as he became more environmentally conscious. (That period of his life is only briefly touched on here but is the focus of Cook's next book, Beauty in the Beast: Flora, Fauna, and Endangered Species of Artist Ralph Burke Tyree, which will be reviewed here soon.) In 1979, Tyree dropped dead of a heart attack in his studio at age 57.

Tyree: Artist of the South Pacific was clearly a labor of love for Cook, whose biography is painstakingly researched and presented in a lively, interesting narrative. Cook didn't limit himself to printed resources, either; he interviewed Tyree's wife and children, as well as one of his models, to get first-hand accounts and impressions of the artist's life.

Even better, the book is heavily illustrated ... mostly, of course, with reproductions of Tyree's art, but also with his correspondences, his sketches, the work of his peers, and photographs from his life.

As with Leeteg, Tyree is a tribute to an artist I knew and cared little about before this book landed on my desk, and yet I thoroughly enjoyed every page. That's a testament to both the good writing and the gorgeous art within.