Charles Herbert Woodbury
Encyclopedia
Charles Herbert Woodbury (July 14, 1864—January 21, 1940), United States
marine painter
, was born at Lynn, Massachusetts
.
, where his earliest work was part of the oeuvre of the group later known as the Lynn Beach Painters. While an undergraduate at MIT he became a regular exhibitor at, and at 19 the youngest member of, the Boston Art Club
. After graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(with degree in Mechanical Engineering
), in 1886 Woodbury had great success painting up the New England coast and in the towns and beaches of Nova Scotia and exhibiting the results. From January to June 1891 he was a pupil of the Académie Julian
in Paris
, after which he went to Holland, where he studied the techniques of the modern Dutch painters. Upon his return to New England he settled in Boston for his winter studio and spent his summers in the small fishing village of Ogunquit, Maine
; there he founded one of the most successful of the summer art colony schools that even survived his death. He was one of the most sought-after teachers of his generation, having begun teaching on a regular basis while a freshman at M.I.T. Ironically, he had little formal training himself other than a few months of classes at the Academy Julian in Paris. Like Winslow Homer
, another New England painter with an affinity for summers in Maine, he preferred "to work out his salvation with little help from others in his profession". Nevertheless, Woodbury maintained a close friendship with John Singer Sargent
and a pleasant acquaintance with many of his contemporaries including J. Alden Weir
and Childe Hassam
. He was president of the Boston Water Color Club, and became associate of the National Academy of Design
, New York in 1906 and a full member in 1907. His wife, Marcia Oakes Woodbury, born in 1865 at South Berwick, Maine
, also became known as a painter. She died at the age of 49 in 1913.
He maintained a strong and consistent vision in his more than fifty years of professional life and became a master of compositions of the coast and sea. Woodbury’s many on-the-spot sketches and etchings produce a sense of motion through quick, sure-handed strokes. Seeing and understanding movement was fundamental to his art and teaching, and is reflected in his own maxim: “Paint in verbs, not nouns.” In the words of his son David, Woodbury "...painted what he saw, satisfied that what he saw was really there, all in proper relationship, checked and rechecked by endless reference to the real world".
In his later years he spent his winters in the Caribbean sailing from island to island painting watercolor studies of the beaches and town backed by dramatic mountains and clouds. Over a large part of his career he made some of the most expressive etchings of any American artist of his time, completing more than 500 plates and teaching many younger artists to express themselves in this medium. He died on January 21, 1940 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Woodbury engaged in over 100 solo exhibitions throughout his career, and was included in all of the major invitational and juried shows throughout the country. His work may be found currently in The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art
among many others.
1881 At 17, becomes the youngest honoree of the Boston Art Club.
1882 Begins studies at MIT.
1886 Graduates from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering.
1887 Takes a studio in Boston and teaches drawing.
1888 First recorded visit to Ogunquit, ME.
1890 Marries former student, Marcia Oakes. They travel together to Europe.
1891 Studies at the Académie Julian under Boulanger and Lefebvre.
1896 Moves to Ogunquit with Marcia after the birth of their son, David.
1897 Takes Second Prize for Mid-Ocean painting at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition
1898 Founds his Ogunquit School.
1906 Elected an associate of the National Academy of Design.
1907 Elected full member of the National Academy of Design.
1913 Death of wife, Marcia Oakes.
1940 Dies in Jamaica Plain, MA on January 21.
, MA
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME
Chrysler Museum of Art, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Currier Gallery of Art, NH
El Paso Museum of Art, TX
Farnsworth Art Museum, ME
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA
Harvard University Art Museums, MA
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MA
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, VA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Portland Museum of Art, ME
Rhode Island School of Design – Museum of Art, RI
San Diego Museum of Art, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
1902 Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1910 Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
1910 City Art Museum of St. Louis, MO
1912 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, NY
1913 Detroit Museum of Art, MI
1925 Frederick Keppel & Co., NY
1939 Winchester Public Library, MA
1940 Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
1945 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1968 Adelson Galleries Inc., MA
1978 Vose Galleries of Boston, MA
Guild of Boston Artists
National Academy of Design
Ogunquit Art Association
Salmagundi Club
Society of American Artists
Watercolor Club of Boston
Howlett, D. Roger. “The Lynn Beach Painters.” Boston: Copley Square Press, 1998.
Jarzombek, Nancy Allyn. Boston Art Club: 1855-1950. Boston, MA: Vose Galleries of Boston, 2000.
Loria, Joan, and Warren A. Seamans. “Earth, Sea and Sky – Charles H. Woodbury – Artist and Teacher, 1864-1940,” exhibition catalogue. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Museum, 1998.
Woodbury, Charles H. and Elizabeth W. Perkins. The Art of Seeing: Mental Training Through Drawing. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1925.
Young, George M. and Charles H. Woodbury. Force through Delicacy: the Life and Art of Charles H. Woodbury. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1998.
www.raisonne.org for a complete and detailed listing of all of Woodbury's etchings.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
marine painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, was born at Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
.
Biography
Charles H. Woodbury was born in Lynn, MassachusettsLynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, where his earliest work was part of the oeuvre of the group later known as the Lynn Beach Painters. While an undergraduate at MIT he became a regular exhibitor at, and at 19 the youngest member of, the Boston Art Club
Boston Art Club
The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, for nearly 157 years, serves as a nexus for Members and non Members to access the world of Fine Art. Currently more than 250 members maintain an active environment for the support and promotion of these works....
. After graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(with degree in Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
), in 1886 Woodbury had great success painting up the New England coast and in the towns and beaches of Nova Scotia and exhibiting the results. From January to June 1891 he was a pupil of the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, after which he went to Holland, where he studied the techniques of the modern Dutch painters. Upon his return to New England he settled in Boston for his winter studio and spent his summers in the small fishing village of Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
; there he founded one of the most successful of the summer art colony schools that even survived his death. He was one of the most sought-after teachers of his generation, having begun teaching on a regular basis while a freshman at M.I.T. Ironically, he had little formal training himself other than a few months of classes at the Academy Julian in Paris. Like Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
, another New England painter with an affinity for summers in Maine, he preferred "to work out his salvation with little help from others in his profession". Nevertheless, Woodbury maintained a close friendship with John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
and a pleasant acquaintance with many of his contemporaries including J. Alden Weir
J. Alden Weir
Julian Alden Weir was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut...
and Childe Hassam
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums...
. He was president of the Boston Water Color Club, and became associate of the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
, New York in 1906 and a full member in 1907. His wife, Marcia Oakes Woodbury, born in 1865 at South Berwick, Maine
South Berwick, Maine
South Berwick is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,220 at the 2010 census. South Berwick is home to Berwick Academy, a private, co-educational university-preparatory day school founded in 1791...
, also became known as a painter. She died at the age of 49 in 1913.
He maintained a strong and consistent vision in his more than fifty years of professional life and became a master of compositions of the coast and sea. Woodbury’s many on-the-spot sketches and etchings produce a sense of motion through quick, sure-handed strokes. Seeing and understanding movement was fundamental to his art and teaching, and is reflected in his own maxim: “Paint in verbs, not nouns.” In the words of his son David, Woodbury "...painted what he saw, satisfied that what he saw was really there, all in proper relationship, checked and rechecked by endless reference to the real world".
In his later years he spent his winters in the Caribbean sailing from island to island painting watercolor studies of the beaches and town backed by dramatic mountains and clouds. Over a large part of his career he made some of the most expressive etchings of any American artist of his time, completing more than 500 plates and teaching many younger artists to express themselves in this medium. He died on January 21, 1940 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Woodbury engaged in over 100 solo exhibitions throughout his career, and was included in all of the major invitational and juried shows throughout the country. His work may be found currently in The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
among many others.
Chronology
1864 Born in Lynn, MA on July 14.1881 At 17, becomes the youngest honoree of the Boston Art Club.
1882 Begins studies at MIT.
1886 Graduates from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering.
1887 Takes a studio in Boston and teaches drawing.
1888 First recorded visit to Ogunquit, ME.
1890 Marries former student, Marcia Oakes. They travel together to Europe.
1891 Studies at the Académie Julian under Boulanger and Lefebvre.
1896 Moves to Ogunquit with Marcia after the birth of their son, David.
1897 Takes Second Prize for Mid-Ocean painting at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition
1898 Founds his Ogunquit School.
1906 Elected an associate of the National Academy of Design.
1907 Elected full member of the National Academy of Design.
1913 Death of wife, Marcia Oakes.
1940 Dies in Jamaica Plain, MA on January 21.
Collections
Addison Gallery of American ArtAddison Gallery of American Art
The Addison Gallery of American Art, as a department of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art...
, MA
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME
Chrysler Museum of Art, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Currier Gallery of Art, NH
El Paso Museum of Art, TX
Farnsworth Art Museum, ME
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA
Harvard University Art Museums, MA
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MA
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, VA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Portland Museum of Art, ME
Rhode Island School of Design – Museum of Art, RI
San Diego Museum of Art, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Exhibitions
1887 J. Eastman Chase Gallery, MA1902 Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1910 Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
1910 City Art Museum of St. Louis, MO
1912 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, NY
1913 Detroit Museum of Art, MI
1925 Frederick Keppel & Co., NY
1939 Winchester Public Library, MA
1940 Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
1945 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1968 Adelson Galleries Inc., MA
1978 Vose Galleries of Boston, MA
Memberships
Boston Art ClubGuild of Boston Artists
National Academy of Design
Ogunquit Art Association
Salmagundi Club
Society of American Artists
Watercolor Club of Boston
Suggested Resources
Gammell, R.H. Ives. The Boston Painters 1900-1930. Orleans, MA: Parnassus Press, 1986.Howlett, D. Roger. “The Lynn Beach Painters.” Boston: Copley Square Press, 1998.
Jarzombek, Nancy Allyn. Boston Art Club: 1855-1950. Boston, MA: Vose Galleries of Boston, 2000.
Loria, Joan, and Warren A. Seamans. “Earth, Sea and Sky – Charles H. Woodbury – Artist and Teacher, 1864-1940,” exhibition catalogue. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Museum, 1998.
Woodbury, Charles H. and Elizabeth W. Perkins. The Art of Seeing: Mental Training Through Drawing. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1925.
Young, George M. and Charles H. Woodbury. Force through Delicacy: the Life and Art of Charles H. Woodbury. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1998.
www.raisonne.org for a complete and detailed listing of all of Woodbury's etchings.