Charles E. Wadsworth

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. 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. 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.

Wadsworth studied at the Art Students League of New York and exhibited work at the Whitney Museum and elsewhere. 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. 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).

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. 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.

Collections Works by Wadsworth are held in the following museums' collections: Addison Gallery of American Art Farnsworth Museum of Art Portland Museum of Art Smithsonian American Art Museum Worcester Art Museum