Charles Webster Hawthorne teaching class

Brooklyn Museum - The Red Bow - Charles W

Green Sky Landscape Charles Webster Hawthorne

Charles Webster Hawthorne (January 8, 1872 – November 29, 1930) was an American portrait and genre

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He was born in Lodi, Illinois, and his parents returned to Maine, raising him in the state where Charles' father was born. At age 18, he went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, working as an office-boy by day in a

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

factory and studying at night school and with

Henry Siddons Mowbray Harry Siddons Mowbray (August 5, 1858 – 1928) was an American artist. He executed various painting commissions for J.P. Morgan, F.W. Vanderbilt, and other clients. He served as director of the American Academy in Rome from 1902–1904. Bio ...

and

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...

, and abroad in both the Netherlands and Italy. In 1908 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1911.

e studied painting under several notable artistsat the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. Among his teachers were Frank Vincent DuMond and George de Forest Brush. But Hawthorne declared that the most dominant influence in his career was William Merritt Chase, with whom he worked as both a pupil and assistant. Both men were naturally talented teachers and figurative painters who were drawn to rich color and the lusciousness of oil paint as a medium. Chase passed on a Munich tradition of tone values and tone painting, and Hawthorne learned all he could.

While studying abroad in the Netherlands as Chase's assistant, Hawthorne was influenced to start his own school of art. His winters were spent in Paris and New York City, his summers at Provincetown, Massachusetts, the site of his school. In addition to founding the Cape Cod School of Art, Hawthorne was also a founding member of the

Provincetown Art Association The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is located at 460 Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is the most attended art museum on Cape Cod. The museum's permanent coll ...

established in 1914. While in Paris Hawthorne became a full member of the French Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1917.

The Cape Cod School of Art was the first outdoor summer school for figure painting and grew into one of the nation's leading art schools. Under thirty years of Hawthorne's guidance, the school attracted some of the most talented art instructors and students in the country including
John Noble John Noble (born 20 August 1948) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles as Denethor in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Dr. Walter Bishop on the science fiction series ''Fringe'', Henry Parrish on the action-horror series '' ...
, Richard Miller, and
Max Bohm Max Bohm (1868 – September 19, 1923) was an American artist who spent much of his time in Europe. Biography Bohm was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and travelled in Europe. Between 1895-1904 he made h ...
. At his school, Hawthorne gave weekly criticisms and instructive talks, guiding his pupils and setting up ideals but never imposing his own technique or method.

Another well known student was Norman Rockwell, who studied with Hawthorne one summer while he was enrolled at the Art Students League. William H. Johnson also studied with Hawthorne and later got a grant from him. Another pupil was

Bertha Noyes Bertha Noyes (1876–1966) was an American painter. A native of Washington, D.C., Noyes studied at the Corcoran School of Art in that city; she also had lessons with Charles Webster Hawthorne. She exhibited widely, and her work is held in numerou ...

, long an important figure in the artistic scene of Washington, D.C. Among his works: El aprendiz - Charles Webster Hawthorne

* ''The Trousseau'', Metropolitan Museum of Art * ''Mother and Child'',

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Museum * ''Net Mender'', Rhode Island School of Design,

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

* ''Venetian Girl'', Worcester Art Museum * ''The Family'',

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the tr ...

*
''Crew of the Philomena Manta'', 1915Provincetown Art Collection

''Fish Cleaners''
Provincetown Art Collection
''Untitled (Study of girl in white)''
1927, Provincetown Art Collection

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum h ...

, Youngstown, Ohio * ''The Fisherman's Daughter'', Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
''The Fish and the Man'', 1925(larger image)
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas His class studio in Provincetown on Miller Hill Road (currently known as the Hawthorne School of Art) was added August 21, 1978, to the National Register of Historic Places. His wife was the painter

Marion Campbell Hawthorne Ethel Marion Campbell Hawthorne (1870Her grave marker gives a date of October 16, 1869 – April 16, 1945) was an American painter. Born in Joliet, Illinois, Hawthorne studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and with William Merri ...

; their son, Joseph Hawthorne, was a successful orchestral conductor.

References

External links

"A Painter's Painter: Charles Webster Hawthorne; The Influence of Provincetown and Henry Hensche on Sammy Britt, Gerald DeLoach, Richard Kelso, and George T. Thurmond"Several Hawthorne exhibition catalogs
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF)

The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Charles Webster 1872 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters American genre painters People from Provincetown, Massachusetts Painters from Maine Students of William Merritt Chase Painters from Massachusetts People from Clark County, Illinois Painters from Illinois National Academy of Design members 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

References

Further reading

External links