Charles Wadsworth (artist)

{{Short description|American artist and poet}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Charles Wadsworth

| birth_date = March 3, 1917

| birth_place = Ridgewood, New Jersey

| death_date = August 21, 2002

| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts

| nationality = American

| known_for = Printmaking (Collagraphy), Painting, Poetry, Illustration

| style = Modernism

}}

Charles E. Wadsworth Jr. (March 3, 1917 – August 21, 2002) was an American painter, printmaker, and poet. He was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey and moved to Cranberry Isles, Maine in the 1940s.{{Cite web |title=A Maine Writer: Wadsworth, Charles (1917 - 2002) |url=https://www.maine.gov/msl/maine/writdisplay.shtml?id=647632 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=www.maine.gov}}{{Cite web |date=29 August 2002 |title=[Obituaries] Charles Wadsworth |url=https://gcihs.digitalarchive.us/items/show/861 |access-date=23 December 2024 |series= |publisher=Bar Harbor Times |via=Great Cranberry Island Historical Society, Catalogue # 1000.0.852}} His art and writing frequently deal with themes of nature and the "austere enchantments" of life on Maine's islands, as Wadsworth himself put it.{{Cite book |last=Wadsworth |first=Charles E. |title=Views From the Island: Poetry and Prints |publisher=The Tidal Press |year=1978 |isbn=093095405X |location=Cranberry Isles, Maine |pages=92 |chapter=Some Afterviews}} In addition to his work as a visual artist and poet, he also illustrated books and, with his wife Jean, ran a small publishing house called The Tidal Press.{{Cite web |title=Seed leaves; homage to R[obert] F[rost] Poetry by Richard Wilbur. Prints by Charles Wadsworth |url=https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b10234357 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Research Catalog, New York Public Library |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Smart |first=Wini |last2= |date=1 October 2003 |title="Waddy": Charles E. Wadsworth (1917-2002) |url=http://www.workingwaterfrontarchives.org/2003/10/01/waddy-charles-e-wadsworth-1917-2002/ |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=The Working Waterfront Archives |publisher=The Island Institute |language=en-US |publication-place=Rockland, ME}}

Wadsworth studied at the Art Students League of New York and exhibited work at the Whitney Museum and elsewhere.{{Cite web |title=Charles Wadsworth |url=https://whitney.org/artists/t4408 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=whitney.org |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pictures_on_Exhibit/Fzm6wNprRDEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22charles%20wadsworth%22 |title=Pictures on Exhibit |date=1955 |publisher= |volume=19 |language=en |via=Google Books}} His printmaking and illustrations made use of modern techniques such as collagraphy; he also produced oil paintings and drawings that are held in the collections of various regional and national museums, along with several of his prints.{{Cite web |title=Moon Gulls |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/13001 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Yale University Art Gallery Collection}}{{Cite web |title=The Gull Charmer |url=https://worcester.emuseum.com/objects/19469/the-gull-charmer?ctx=44b4c646bbb8064deff2b752e4e086f57c3c0f7b&idx=0 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Worcestor Art Museum |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Charles Wadsworth, Rockpool |url=https://addison.andover.edu/search-the-collection/?embark_query=/objects-1/info?query=mfs%20all%20%22charles%20wadsworth%22&sort=0&objectName=Rockpool |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Addison Gallery of American Art |language=en}} In 2009, four pieces by Wadsworth were included in a retrospective exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art that featured works from the larger community of artists who had been active in the Cranberry Isles during the second half of the twentieth century, of which Wadsworth was the first (others included Ashley Bryan, Gretna Campbell, Robert LaHotan, and John Heliker).{{Cite news |last=Bloch |first=Jessica |date=21 March 2009 |title=Inspiring Isles: Portland Museum of Art highlights the diversity of a creative crew from Maine's Cranberry Isles |url= |archive-url= |work=Bangor Daily News |pages=7}}{{Cite book |last=Little |first=David |title=Art of Acadia |last2=Little |first2=Carl |publisher=Downeast Books |year=2016 |isbn=9781608934751 |pages=179–192 |chapter=Great Cranberry Island: A Community of Artists}}

Wadsworth published and illustrated multiple volumes of his own poetry, in addition to illustrating several works by other writers—including Richard Wilbur's Seed Leaves: Homage to R.F. and texts by Christopher Fry.{{Cite web |title=Islands off Maine / by Leslie Norris ; monotypes by Charles E. Wadsworth - Catalogue {{!}} National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/950636 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=National Library of Australia |language=en}} He was also involved in the literary and cultural life of Great Cranberry Island and often delivered public readings of his poems in the Island's church. A film was made about his life; and several documents, photographs, and other items associated with Wadsworth can be found at the Great Cranberry Island Historical Society.{{Cite web |title=[Search Results for "Charles Wadsworth"] |url=https://gcihs.digitalarchive.us/find?query=Charles+Wadsworth |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Great Cranberry Island Historical Society Historical Archives}}